The Italian Invasion

Started by Todd, May 30, 2015, 10:20:10 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Brian

I streamed Vincenzo Maltempo's brand new Brahms Concerto 2 recording yesterday. The playing is up to his usual standards, but the Mitteleuropa Orchestra (from the bit of Italy east of Venice; they also play in southern Austria sometimes) is simply depressing. I mean, they could be worse, but most American conservatory groups are better.

One case where a recording setup that heavily favors the piano is a blessing.

Todd




Davide Cabassi caught my eye when I discovered he is recording a complete Beethoven sonata cycle for Decca Italy.  I'm already collecting Decca Italy's competing cycle from Saleem Ashkar, so I didn't want to start buying Cabassi's cycle, at least not without hearing something else from him.  So when I was able to get this disc of Schumann's Carnaval and Piano Concerto for a few bucks, I decided to give it a try.  Forty-something Cabassi studied at the Giuseppi Verdi Conservatory and has concertized and recorded for various labels, so he's been around and knows his stuff.

The pianist's take on the solo work is of the fast and well executed variety.  Cabassi seems most comfortable with the faster, louder music, while the slower music lacks poetry and nuance when compared to better versions.  Also, while well executed, the faster music is kind of faceless a lot of the time.  A few potent sforzandi here or there and a potent Pause aside, nothing really stands out as noteworthy or likely to invite many listens.  It's not bad, it just gets lost in the crowd of many other versions.  The live recording of the Concerto fares a bit better.  Cabassi's overall style is much the same, but his playing is a bit freer, as he seems to play off the orchestra.  The lack of romantic nuance and the less than BPO quality orchestra prevents the recording from being a top twenty choice, but it's good for an occasional listen.

Sonics are OK, but sub-par for modern recordings.  This disc does not make me want to rush out and buy his Beethoven.

The Amazon image does not do full justice to the hot pink hue of the cover.
The universe is change; life is opinion. - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

People would rather believe than know - E.O. Wilson

Propaganda death ensemble - Tom Araya

Mandryka

#122
Quote from: Todd on May 06, 2018, 05:50:01 AM



As with some prior Cascioli recordings, this is pretty much all his show.  He's producer, co-engineer, and did some post-production work. 

I once was part of a conversation when someone who seemed to know what they were talking about suggested that this was part of his deal with DG -- it saves DG some money and it gets the recordings out. I believe that his first recordings at least -- Chopin Waltzes amongst other things -- were self financed.

I enjoyed this Beethoven more than the Mozart sonatas, but that just shows I'm more open minded about how to play Beethoven than about how to play Mozart.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Todd




It sounds too easy.  Alessandro Deljavan has such highly developed technique that Chopin's Etudes sound so easy that the pianist must embellish them to make them interesting for him.  Whether his embellishments make the playing interesting to listeners will depend to a large extent on how much said listeners like a pianist inserting copious amounts of personality.  I'm rather fond of such an approach, especially when backed by playing displaying awesome control and precision.  Tzimon Barto, himself an uber-interventionist, boasted in the liner notes of one of his discs about having three dozen dynamic levels between ppp and fff.  That seems coarse compared to Deljavan.  The best analogy seems to be that Barto's finely tuned playing is the pianistic equivalent of a precise, stepped pre-amp attenuator while Deljavan's is a high-grade, infinitely adjustable potentiometer.  The Italian seems to extract more than three dozen levels between pp and mf alone, and on this disc he rarely ventures into thundering playing, though clearly he can do whatever the hell he wants to do.  Every piece on the disc finds Deljavan doing something of note.  His legato can be a smooth as smooth can be.  His dynamic levels may vary a little or a lot between voices, and alternate throughout a piece.  Accenting and rubato are personal and deployed frequently.  Some passages almost seem as though Deljavan wants you to admire just how beautiful he can play just because he can.  In that way he comes off as a gentler Ivo Pogorelich at times.  I've listened to the disc multiple times, through speakers and headphones, and each time I've heard something new.  As a display of pianistic ability, this disc is most impressive.  I can't say that Deljavan matches the likes of pianists as different as Pollini, or Francois, or even Lisiecki, whose recording has just gotten better with each listen, but there is some compelling playing here - enough to make me think that his recent release of Chopin's Mazurkas and Grieg's Lyric Pieces are worth hearing. 
The universe is change; life is opinion. - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

People would rather believe than know - E.O. Wilson

Propaganda death ensemble - Tom Araya

Todd




This third Schumann disc from Maurizio Baglini finds the pianist playing in a tiny church for a small audience in a live recording shorn of editing and other niceties.  The booklet interview indicates that Baglini has come to hold a negative view of studio recordings, which he thinks rob performances of spontaneity and result in artificial perfection.  He's not wrong.  It was also revealed with the release of this disc that the pianist will record a complete Schumann cycle.  That's nifty.

The disc opens with Kinderzenen.  Baglini starts off playing fast 'n' fluid, with fine detail sacrificed to a bigger picture take, or as big as it gets in this work.  The piano sound is lovely and smooth, but the music is sometimes a bit rushed when compared to other versions, fitting right in with what Baglini wanted, and sometimes the music has a dark cloud over it.  In Wichtige Begebenheit, one is reminded that Baglini is playing a mighty Fazioli in a small space, as the lower registers swallow everything.  Pleasingly, the sound is warm and rounded rather than clangy or heavy.  Traumerei is perhaps a bit plain, though quite lovely.  Baglini is at his best in the more animated pieces in this work, there's no doubt; he plays with greater abandon, greater freedom, unafraid to dash off some playing.  He's also unafraid to ride the sustain, creating a hazy, dreamy soundworld dominated by legato, something he mentions in the liner notes. 

Davidsbündlertänze follows.  Ample pedaling is evident here, but so, too, is Baglini's well-established ability to and penchant for, wailing out forte passages.  The piano, pedaling, and recording venue all conspire to soften the edge of the Fazioli, though at times Baglini switches things up enough to let the higher registers cut through.  Sometimes the playing sounds almost reckless.  Mostly though, the playing renders the piece like one small dance-fantasia following the other, with brief moments of inspiration - some rushed arpeggios, say, or a piercing upper register note - popping up here and there.  This is decidedly not a take carefully planned out for the ages; it's a recital performance.  There's often no arc; there's just playing - very fine playing.  Come Mit Humor (the second one), Baglini sees fit to dash off some right hand playing in a most pleasing nonchalant manner, and he follows that with an at times thundering Wild und lustig, which veers right into banging territory in the loudest passages.  In the final piece, Baglini freewheels it a bit.  Whether it's a bit too much or not depends on taste.

The disc ends with the main attraction, Kreisleriana.  Baglini opens in a personal, lurching fashion. It's certainly extremely animated, but not since the first spin of Dina Ugorskaja's take have I heard something as disorienting in the opening movement.  (I must say, I do fancy the way Baglini holds the last note and lets it decay.)  In the second movement, Baglini's Eusebian bona fides come to the fore in a more relaxed and attractive and dreamy fashion, though Florestan is not to be suppressed in the movement.  The playing does seem a bit episodic, with the transitions between different sections sort of arbitrary or rushed, but the goal here is spontaneous playing.  This occurs time and again, though time and again Baglini plays this or that passage with some personal approach or insight or intimacy that, if not revelatory, at least provokes thought.  As the work progresses, whether it's Florestan erupting with passion, or Eusebius dreaming, or a some more earthly and less literary playing, Baglini plays in an attractive or personal manner, ending with a closing movement as personal, if less lurching than the opener.  This is not one of the great Op 16s, but it's a good one, and it would have likely been something to hear in person.

I'm admittedly a Baglini fan, so I'm predisposed to like his stuff, and I like this stuff.

Sound for this one-take live recording is close to as good as it gets.  If one listens at a loud volume - highly recommended - the bass frequencies drive into the ground and energize the room in a palpably satisfying manner.
The universe is change; life is opinion. - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

People would rather believe than know - E.O. Wilson

Propaganda death ensemble - Tom Araya

Todd




Vanessa Benelli Mosell's first full-fledged international release, some Debussy released late last year for this Debussy year.  Based on her prior releases, Debussy did not seem the most natural stylistic fit for the pianist, and the results more or less align with expectations.  Mosell's tone tends to be on the lean and bright side, her playing more about clarity than tonal luster.  She also tends to not dawdle.  These traits are on full display here.  Her playing is short on atmosphere, longer on drive and vigor.  This translates into some hard-edged, very hammerful Debussy, as though informed by Prokofiev.  Le vent dans la plaine offers a perfect example.  A bit tetchy, with some nice attention to detail - the right hand playing, especially - Mosell plays with a sort of nervous energy that one doesn't always encounter.  This is Debussy the forward-looking modernist.  That's not to say that Mosell can't cool things off and play with more restraint when called for, as Des pas sur la neige demonstrates, though even there, her tone becomes harder-edged in the louder passages.  Come La Cathédrale engloutie, Mosell plays with a nicely taut tempo, but her playing sounds hard in the loudest music, though that's not necessarily unappealing here.  Mosell launches Suite Bergamesque with a Prelude that opens at least as forcefully as any in my collection, though the pianist dials back for the middle section.  The Menuet is bold and fast, if unnuanced and heavy handed.  Mosell then plays Claire de Lune at a slow pace, though without much flow or nuance.  Passepied ends the set in an unusual fashion.  It's sort of like Debussy informed by Conlon Nancarrow.  Overall, this is well enough played Debussy, but not especially good Debussy, or at least not what I typically listen for.  It does have some benefit in presenting the composer in a harder hitting than normal fashion.

Sound is quite good, if not quite SOTA.
The universe is change; life is opinion. - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

People would rather believe than know - E.O. Wilson

Propaganda death ensemble - Tom Araya

Todd




When I worked my way through a big slug of Mendelssohn's Lieder Ohne Worte a few years ago, Roberto Prosseda's set ended up being one of the better ones.  I was aware that he was recording all the works for solo piano, as well as the piano concertos and some chamber music, including a superb recording of the First and Third Piano Quartets, but I wasn't especially keen on the notion of hearing that much Mendelssohn.  However, when the complete set of solo piano music became available for super-bargain price, I figured it couldn't hurt to give the set a shot.  I'll just cover the new discs.

The third disc opens with the F Minor Fantasia, Op 28, which sounds mostly fleet but occasionally organ-like and fairly serious, and then mostly fleet with gobs of notes in the fast slow movement and really fast closing movement.  Three sonatas follow.  The Op 6 is light and informed by Beethoven to start, but the Tempo di Menuetto movement, if perhaps repetitive, sounds very much like Mendelssohn and is quite appealing, and the Adagio, again informed by Beethoven, is very nice, while the closing movement is quick, laden with many notes, and playful.  The Op 106 Sonata is a bit more dramatic and more formal, and while unambiguously romantic, it remains slight, though that is not meant negatively.  Op 105 follows, and is less dramatic but more energetic, and quite accomplished for a composer not yet into his teens when he wrote it.  The other sonatas all date from Mendelssohn's teen years, including the brief, one movement MWV U 42 sonata that ends the disc, which is a nice, condensed piece.

The fourth disc opens with the well known Rondo Capriccioso.  Prosseda keeps it light and lyrical, generally gliding across the keyboard, adding some more drama, and congestion, near the end.  There's lots of fast and light playing throughout the other works.  In the Fantaisies on Caprices Op 16, the already high overall energy level becomes more pronounced, and Prosseda speeds things up even more.  The music and playing is superficially exciting.  The Capriccio Op 5 is similar, but it develops into two decidedly different parts in places, with the left hand playing dramatic and the right speedy melody, and Prosseda never breaks a sweat. 

Disc five opens with the Op 54 Variations sérieuses.  After the Lieder Ohne Worte, this is the piece I've managed to collect the most versions of - Thibaudet, Perahia, Korstick, Renard, Cortot - and Prosseda holds his own.  He lacks the impact of Korstick, and the effortlessness and scintillating sound of Thibaudet, but this is none too shabby.  The remaining pieces - more variations and Preludes and Fugues - all sound just nifty, though Benjamin Grosvenor shows that even more musical satisfaction can be extracted from selected Preludes and Fugues. 

Disc six contains various pieces - character, children, and piano - and preludes and etudes.  The seven Op 7 Character Pieces that open the disc are quite nice, displaying sleek Bachian sound, with the last a proto-lieder ohne worte, though less so that the quite excellent Andante e Presto agitato that follows, which sounds like two or three of the pieces stitched together.  The various other pieces all sound fun and light.  The Op 104 Etudes have some Chopinesque traits, but also seem like they may have inspired others, like perhaps Saint-Saens.  The disc also contains two little gems, musical sketches from 1833, MWV U 93 and MWV U 94, both of which were published in 1834.  Though short in duration, they both hint at something more.  The Andante cantabile opener starts off with an Ave Maria on the organ type sound, and is lovely as all get out.  The much more robust Presto agitato is a weighty but small scaled etude.  Here's five minutes of unexpected accomplishment and depth.  The Perpetuum mobile MWV U 58 that closes the disc is a pure delight and would make a great encore.

The next three discs contain juvenilia and occasional pieces.  The discs contain dozens of pieces of various lengths and levels of sophistication.  Some are mere wisps of pieces, light and forgettable.  Some, though, offer more.  Multiple times when listening, one hears what almost sound like sketches or germs of ideas of later, greater Mendelssohn works, like his symphonies or overtures.  Some are noteworthy for other reasons.  The Bärentanz, MWV U 174 (1842) is a great good time, with a joyfully growling left hand.  It would make a splendid encore.  The massively scaled, for Mendelssohn (at ~24'), Fantasia MWV U 41 (1823) sounds like souped-up Mozart meets Clementi meets, well, Mendelssohn.  The Capriccio MWV U 43 that follows sounds very influenced by Beethoven.  (That seems reasonable for a young composer in the 1820s.)  Four youthful sonatas are included, and all sound rather more accomplished than eleven year olds might typically write, and if they aren't masterpieces of the genre, they indicate a precociously talented musician with early hints of his future self.  Also included in the three discs is a piano transcription of thee pieces from A Midsummer Night's Dream.  It's something of a mystery why these pieces are not recorded and performed more, and Prosseda does them proud. 

The set closes with a disc devoted to the works for two piano and piano four hands, with Prosseda's wife, the extremely fine pianist Alessandra Ammara, joining in.  The disc opens with one complete sonata and one sonata movement for two pianos from a tweenage Mendelssohn.  As expected, the wee lad was adept at imitative art, infusing something personal and fun into the proceedings.  A substantial four hands Fantasie from the composer's teenage years follows, and here one can hear more hints of the Mendelssohn to come.  There's more imitation, to be sure, but Mendelssohn's style shines through, and the drama, sort of faux sounding, nonetheless sounds appealing and offers a nice contrast for the more fluid fast music.  "Late" Mendelssohn follows, with a very Mendelssohnian two-movement Duetto and substantial yet slight Andante and Variations priming the listener for the closer, the full six piece transcription of movements from A Midsummer Night's Dream.  Here's some of Mendelssohn's best-known, best music, expertly transcribed.  From the overture through the Wedding March, the music sounds, if anything, fresher when played on piano than by orchestra.  The textures are thicker than for two hands, and the extra digits allow for some dazzling effect (eg, the playful, light, yet dense upper registers in the Overture), and some rich harmonies in the Notturno, among other aural delights.  Husband and wife play together splendidly.

The set as a whole is quite good.  While some gems pop out, it's clear why relatively few of Mendelssohn's solo piano efforts get a lot of love on disc.  His solo piano output as a whole isn't up there with the greatest composers in the space.  But there's a lot of enjoyment to be had exploring the compositions, and I'm glad I went for the complete set at a nice price.  I'll dip into it again from time to time, there's no doubt. 

Production values are superb, as expected, though the sound doesn't match the as good as it gets sound one hears in Prosseda's more recent Mozart recordings.
The universe is change; life is opinion. - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

People would rather believe than know - E.O. Wilson

Propaganda death ensemble - Tom Araya

Brian

Quote from: Todd on June 09, 2018, 05:55:52 AMPreludes and Fugues - all sound just nifty, though Benjamin Grosvenor shows that even more musical satisfaction can be extracted from selected Preludes and Fugues. 

That's my problem with the Preludes and Fugues Op 35. The first time I ever heard any of them was a live Ben Grosvenor performance of the selections which he later recorded, and I thought, wow, this is Great Music and everyone should be playing it. And then it turned out, as I went reaching for Howard Shelley and Benjamin Frith and Roberto Prosseda, that they're actually the kind of music that can be decent in decent hands, compelling in compelling hands, but Great only when the pianist is invested in the greatness... Anyway the only other place, besides Grosvenor, where I've heard Op. 35 treated as Great Music is a single prelude and fugue (No. 1, the best in the set anyway) recorded by Murray Perahia.

Mandryka

I want you to try Francesco Cera's Scarlatti and tell me what you think.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Todd




Gianluca Cascioli is indeed a pianist of ideas.  While he does single composer discs, he also likes to put together themed compilations.  Sometimes he puts together more than one.  Take the disc 900.  Or rather, the discs.  There's 900, devoted to Russian composers, then there's 900 (Austria-Germany) devoted to Germanic composers.  I went Deutsche for this round. 

The disc opens with Zemlinsky's Fantasien uber Gedichte von Richard Dehmel.  The piece is very much of Zemlinky's lush, late romantic world, just under four minutes of harmonic luxuriance and beauty, even if the piece is on the slight side.  The next work is rather more formidable: arguably the best-ever Op 1, Berg's Piano Sonata.  Cascioli wades into territory where giants rule, and fortunately he fares pretty well.  His playing is a studied variant of of-the-moment playing, with individual passages taking precedence over the architectural whole.  The piece takes on a more romantic, fin de siècle feel than in some other recordings.  There's an instability to the playing, too, that sounds quite appealing.  Next up are two selections from the Op 2 Klavierstücke mit Überschriften nach Worten von Nikolaus Lenau by Johann Ludwig Trepulka, from 1924.  The miniatures likewise maintain a fin de siècle feel in their brief, sparse, attractive way.  They are like more melodically satisfying Webern.  Next up are selections from Josef Matthias Hauer's Atonale Musik, Op 20 from 1922 and a couple Zwolftonspiel pieces from the '40s and '50s.  Schoenberg's theoretical competitor wrote even more Webernian pieces, with the Op 20 pieces coming in at under two minutes, or even a minute, a pop.  They say everything they have to say with an economy of notes.  While undeniably ultramodern (for the time), they manage to sound rather appealing.  Those searching for memorable, hummable tunes may dislike the pieces.  The Zwolftonspiel are slightly broader of conception, the first a bit colder and sparser, the second a bit jollier and sparser. 

Next up is the Fourth Piano Sonata, Op 150, by Helmut Neumann.  The movements are compact, sparse, and unfold in a supremely logical way.  No excess notes here, and though again severe when compared to standard piano sonata fare - with an abrupt, purely logical end to the second movement Andante molto that nearly startles - Cascioli delivers the movements in a manner that makes them rather attractive nonetheless.  The next work is a big one, Hindemith's Third Piano Sonata.  My only prior exposure to this sonata came by way of Maurizio Paciariello's recording.  Cascioli makes a stronger case for the piece.  He delivers on the more expressive aspects of the music, sounding playful, forlorn, etc, while delivering both beautiful and austere sounds from his instrument as needed.  The piece comes across as more varied and substantive, and more in line with sonatas that predated it, making it seem like it's nothing less than the logical continuation of the Germanic sonata tradition.  Which it is.  To be sure, one hear hints of Prokofiev in the score (or perhaps one hears hints of Hindemith in Prokofiev's writing), and that is not only OK, it's most enjoyable.  The disc closes with Wilhelm Killmayer's An John Field: Nocturnes - No. 5.  In a sort of stylistic pastiche reminiscent of some of Berio's compositions, Killmayer, through Cascioli, delivers music that alternatively sounds unabashedly harsh and modern and breathtakingly gorgeous.  While the different sections sound marvelous, it is sometimes the transitions that beguile, as, for instance an arpeggio becomes the perfect vehicle to move between eras and styles with only a few notes.

Throughout the disc, Cascioli plays immaculately.  One gets the sense, as with his Mozart disc, that every note and every pause was thoroughly, exhaustively thought through.  Nothing is left to chance.

I ended up going for a 24/192 download since it was the same price as the 24/96 download and less than I would have had to pay for physical media.  Cascioli personally pays special attention to the sound of all his recordings.  This one is the best sounding piano recording I've ever heard.
The universe is change; life is opinion. - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

People would rather believe than know - E.O. Wilson

Propaganda death ensemble - Tom Araya

Todd




This one kind of slipped in under the radar. This three track Liszt EP hasn't even been released on disc, nor have I found a download for purchase, though I didn't try too hard. Didn't have to since it's streamable. Baglini has recorded some other Liszt, and it's pretty darned good, so it's not too surprising that these three tracks ain't so bad, either. The EP starts off with À la Chapelle Sixtine, and the music is very much in line with other holy music of Liszt. It contains passages of bravura piano writing, but it also contains passages inspired by obvious and real devotion. It would be right at home in Harmonies poétiques et religieuses, and Baglini plays it very well indeed. Indeed, it makes me want to hear what he might do with the Harmonies. (It also makes me wish that Michel Block and Jean-Rodolphe Kars would have recorded it.) Sound is more distant and warm and the lowest lower register playing takes on a church organ like texture at points. The sound becomes notable because the first of two Valses oubliées is recorded much more closely. The second comes off fairly light and playful, but strikingly "modern", and almost Ravelian. Baglini plays his Fazioli in such a way as to maximize the benefit from the tart upper registers. Ditto the third valse, where the piano reverb, perhaps augmented with mixing desk tomfoolery, adds some nice color. It's more relaxed, let his long hair down Liszt. Baglini again demonstrates his Lisztian credentials. This entirely entertaining release kind of makes me wonder why the pianist didn't record more and release it in readily available download format. Oh well, it's available for free, and the streaming sound on Amazon is acceptable.
The universe is change; life is opinion. - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

People would rather believe than know - E.O. Wilson

Propaganda death ensemble - Tom Araya

Todd







Roberto Prosseda has turned out to be a reliably good pianist, so I figured I should sample his latest releases of Mozart and Mendelssohn, starting with Mendelssohn.

Prosseda wastes no time in demonstrating his Mendelssohn chops.  The opening Molto allegro con fuoco of the First has that light romantic sound and feel that Mendelssohn so effortlessly produced, as does the lovely but not overwrought Andante con moto, which Prosseda takes at a leisurely tempo, as if to allow the listener the opportunity to relish the musical goodness.  But surely with the first concerto, it is the almost unbearably delightful Presto that's the draw.  While Prosseda does not sound as effortlessly virtuosic as Jean-Yves Thibaudet - a near impossibility - he glides over the keys, spinning out the notes with abandon.  The Hague band keep up, and all forces combined keep things sounding just swell.  The slightly more dramatic second concerto sounds slightly more dramatic.  The nifty horn playing in the opening movement sounds great, and Prosseda once again sounds perfectly at home throughout.  He never makes heavy work of the music, but he doesn't make it sound slight, either.  It may be possible to think Perahia or Schirmer add more artistic weight to the piece, but if they do, it's not by much.  No, Prosseda's Mendelssohn is superb. The disc also includes the Rondo Brillant for piano and orchestra, which is like either a condensed concerto or a lengthy, fully developed movement from a mammoth concerto, take your pick.  Stylistically similar to the concertos, of course, Prosseda delivers more fine Mendelssohn playing.  The disc closes with the Hebrides Overture as something of a bonus.  Well executed, it sounds light and swift.  Throw in some high end Decca sound, and the disc is very nice.  I can't say that Prosseda displaces Thibaudet or even Schirmer, but then, he doesn't need to.

I figured I might as well listen to two new sets of the Mendelssohn concertos if I was gonna listen to one.  This thought was the byproduct of el cheapo closeout pricing of Saleem Abboud Ashkar's recording with Riccardo Chailly and Mendelssohn's old band, the Leipzig Gewandhausers.  Chailly brings to bear his formidable stick waving skills in the opening works, the Ruy Blus Overture (in the world premiere recording of Christopher Hogwood's edition), and the incidental music to A Midsummer's Night Dream.  Premium forces deliver premium results, there's no doubt, and the full scale big band rocks.  Only in sonics do they suffer in comparison, and then only by a practically irrelevant amount.  Had I bought this disc for the Dream, I'd be most pleased, as this is arguably the best rendition I've heard.  But no, I bought it for Ashkar, to hear what he can do.  He can do a lot.  Though Prosseda uses a Fazioli, Ashkar generates the slightly brighter sound, and perhaps an ever so slightly more refined one.  Indeed, while Ashkar chooses a similar overall pace in the first, there's greater fluidity, with more appealing legato and a gentler staccato, than Prosseda.  In the slow movements, Ashkar adopts a slightly brisker tempo and plays with a more flowing overall sound, but I can't say whether I prefer it or not.  Ashkar goes for an even quicker approach in the Presto, though his playing is sometimes not as clear as Prosseda's.  It's still most delightful.  The second concerto benefits even more from the Gewandhaus band's extra heft, while Ashkar offers more of the same overall approach.  Prosseda may offer a bit more drive in the conclusion, but Ashkar offers more refinement.   

Forced to choose a favorite disc, it would probably be the Ashkar disc, but part of that comes down to Chailly and the fillers.  Comparing just concertos Ashkar may again get the nod, but only slightly.  Best to have both. 
The universe is change; life is opinion. - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

People would rather believe than know - E.O. Wilson

Propaganda death ensemble - Tom Araya

Brian

Hmmm, very interesting, thank you. I have Perahia for the concertos and Szell for Dream - a pretty good situation to be in. But if the Chailly CD is priced to sell, why not have the best and the other best?

Todd




The fourth volume in Baglini's Schumann survey offers more of the same of what came before.  The disc opens with Fantasiestücke, Op 12, and the first two pieces offer bold stylistic contrasts, with an exceedingly gentle and dreamy Eusebius in Des Abends and a fiery, impulsive, explosive Florestan in Aufschwung.  And so it goes throughout, with some nice highlights.  Grillen is purposely clunky and exaggerated, and In der Nacht takes very seriously the "with passion" instruction.  Baglini tends to go somewhat or fully to extremes within pieces, as both Fabel and Traumes Wirren demonstrate so those wanting more even keel Schumann may want something else.  I'm not sure I want my Schumann to be even keel.  Anyway, Baglini delivers the goods. 

Next comes the title track, as it were.  While Baglini is no slouch, there are other more beautiful, dreamy versions out there, and here the tendency to push the Florestan bits make the piece a bit larger scale than I often prefer.  (I gotta say, after hearing Yefim Bronfman play the piece as an encore, where he made it abundantly clear from his playing that this is a piece he adores, the recordings I've listened to since sound a bit too studio-bound and not quite sincere enough.)  The Three Romances, Op 28 follow, and the outer pieces are bold and sometimes clangorous, but the middle piece (Einfach) sounds dreamy and irresistibly beautiful.  Most excellent.  The little without opus Ahnung is nicely handled, as well. 

Then comes the disc closer, one of Schumann's great works, Gesänge der Frühe, Op 133.  Starting with a dark, rich, and as played, almost organ-like texture, Baglini keeps the sound tranquil as directed.  The pianist actually keeps much of his playing under wraps for the second piece, not going over the top, instead offering accenting of just the right amount.  Excellent.  The third movement Lebhaft is unabashedly extroverted and heavy but springy.  The fourth movement is likewise extroverted in nature, with Baglini playing with a headlong style through most of the piece.  The piece ends with a slow, somber Im Anfange ruhiges, im Verlauf bewegtes Tempo, in which the pianist establishes a dreamy but even less stable than normal feel which works quite well.  I'm not sure he rises to the best versions out there (Anderszewski, say), but Baglini delivers a fine version in his ongoing complete survey.  I look forward to the next disc.
The universe is change; life is opinion. - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

People would rather believe than know - E.O. Wilson

Propaganda death ensemble - Tom Araya

Todd




At last, Roberto Prosseda's Mozart sonata cycle is complete*.  And it offers more of the same.  The opening pages of the Allegro of K333 sparkle, with Prosseda tossing in his personal rubato and accents, and the Vallotti tuned Fazioli again sounds impossibly beautiful.  This beauty is further exploited in the Andante cantabile, which manages to sound ravishing when Prosseda plays staccato, albeit gently, and one eagerly listens as Prosseda offers a glorious eleven minutes and change of playing.  He caps off the sonata with a playful Allegretto grazioso.  A good start.  Next comes the K475/K457 super-sonata.  The Fantasia starts off by taking advantage of the Fazioli's powerful and clean sound down low, and Prosseda plays the movement with nice amounts of drama and power, offering something of a middle ground between Anderszewski and YES in terms of heft and intensity.  The sonata proper is lighter in mien, with crisp articulation and, at least in the Allegro assai, some delightfully sharp sounding high register playing.  I tend to prefer a bit more bite to the sonata overall, but Prosseda delivers a quite nice version.  Comparatively better, meaning it kicks butt, is K533/494.  Prosseda plays with something approaching insouciance in the Allegro, and again, the at times bright sound of the Fazioli aids and abets the artist's vision, and Prosseda once again delivers a full-length, every repeat included slow movement that allows the listener to wallow in the sonic goodness.     

Disc two starts with one of the greatest ever recordings of K545.  I mean, this cycle has had some high highlights to this point, but this single sonata alone justifies the whole project.  Prosseda delivers such a silky, beautiful tone, and he embellishes so freely but tastefully, and he injects such a sense of joy to the Allegro, that it simply charms.  Prosseda then plays the Andante with immense beauty, and perhaps moves beyond the confines of classicism more than a bit, but who cares?  And the Rondo, well, the Rondo is pure joy start to finish, with a nicely accented coda.  K570 follows, and the fairly heavily embellished Allegro is higher energy than K545, and almost sounds like a perpetuum mobile movement, with the accompaniment keeping things of track.  The Adagio is taken very slowly and may at times actually be too beautiful.  Nah.  The Allegretto is fun and plucky, with Prosseda poking out many of the notes with a delightful staccato and bass notes weighted just so.  Very nice.  The final sonata starts with an Allegro that again delights, though some of the playing starts to just a bit congested at times.  Prosseda returns to his almost too beautiful playing in the Adagio, and he adds a bit of forlorn drama, and it sounds just nifty.  The extra-bright and crisp Allegretto ends the sonata and cycle in outstanding fashion.  Throw in the Sonata Movement K312 as a bold and pointed encore, and one gets a twofer of no little accomplishment.

Prosseda's final installment of his Mozart set matches up to the standard set by the first two volumes.  Due to the instrument and tuning, the set sounds just a bit different, a bit novel, when compared to other sets.  That alone may make it worth hearing.  The pianist's individual and at times idiosyncratic playing, along with the at times immense levels of aural beauty he conjures, are what make the set worth hearing in the end.  This is not The One, the definitive set of the sonatas, but it is fantastic.  Between Prosseda, Dumont, Mauser, Say, and of course Endres and Youn, one could almost say we are living in the best time ever for Mozart fans.  (JK, for Lili Kraus, if for no other reason.)  This newest complete cycle makes me look forward to future Mozart sonata cycles.

Sound quality is even better than the real thing.



* And wouldn't you know it, but only a matter of months after releasing the third volume, Decca Italy is set to issue a discounted price three volume set.
The universe is change; life is opinion. - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

People would rather believe than know - E.O. Wilson

Propaganda death ensemble - Tom Araya

MickeyBoy

We hoi polloi want to know how to purchase this new 3-vol set. TIA.
...the sound of a low whisper

Todd

The universe is change; life is opinion. - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

People would rather believe than know - E.O. Wilson

Propaganda death ensemble - Tom Araya

MickeyBoy

thanks - it should be released soon.
...the sound of a low whisper

Todd




Giuseppe Albanese's solo Liszt recital disc from a few years back is one of the great modern Liszt solo recital discs.  This recording of the concertos and other works for piano and orchestra is not to the same level.  To be sure, the takes are romantic, but here that means there is an emphasis on the slower music, making the works less intense and overtly virtuosic than normal.  Make no mistake, Albanese can and does let rip in some passages, and he dazzles when he does, and his slow playing has some real heft and richness to it.  The Malediction and piano-and-orchestra version of the famous Mephisto Waltz make nice additions, but the latter, in particular, reinforces the relative lack of diabolicality of the disc.  Not a whiff; rather, more of what could have been type release.  I'm still quite glad to have it.
The universe is change; life is opinion. - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

People would rather believe than know - E.O. Wilson

Propaganda death ensemble - Tom Araya