As ever, Anthony Goldstone as both pianist and, in some cases, arranger, has produced a startlingly original and vibrant program. Here, music originally written for concert or operatic performance is presented in little known transcriptions, all but one in fact here receiving their first recording. An important and rare addition to the Tchaikovsky canon. Volume 2 contains transcriptions of music from Tchaikovsky’s ballets.
Genre: Instrumental
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Hans Gál – The Complete Piano Duos
The music of Austrian composer Hans Gál is being rediscovered and appreciated more and more for its infectious tunefulness and verve, and bears close comparison with the music of Dvorak and the other mid European late Romantics. Here is the first and only recording of his works for piano duo : the album was previously released on Olympia but only weeks before that label’s demise, so it will be new to almost everyone.
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Terzetti: Trios for Flute, Viola and Harp
This disc contains beautifully atmospheric 20th century works for flute, viola and harp, from the well known Zodiac Trio of Mathias, to the lesser-known gem by Dubois. Three of Britain’s foremost soloists join to provide a memorable program.
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Russian Piano Music Vol. 8 – Mussorgsky
An individual and strongly gifted composer, Mussorgsky was a self-taught amateur who became one of Russia’s foremost 19th century musical figures, tragically dying young. This CD contains ‘alternative’ versions of many pieces to those most commonly heard – including the manuscript version of ‘Pictures’ avoiding the many substantial errors contained in the first edition and perpetuated – and three even earlier drafts, together with unusual versions of some works. Once again Anthony Goldstone provides a phenomenal performance.
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Rainlight – Evocations of Water for Piano Solo
From the gentle to the torrential, water in nature affects, blesses (and afflicts) us in many ways, and composers have been drawn to this theme time and again. Here one of the world’s brightest young pianists, in his first CD for us, pulls together a stunning programme representing little raindrops and fountains to oceans and stormy tempests, and including five very fine and atmospheric new pieces by British-Australian composer Alicia Grant.
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Delicias – Spanish Delights for Piano Duo
Spain, with its location at the southern tip of western Europe, and its exotic history, has developed a unique music tradition, more aligned, through the influence of the Islamic Moorish period, with the middle east than with the more northern parts of Europe. This cultural uniqueness has attracted hosts of non-Spanish composers to write ‘Spanish’ pieces many of which have become staples of the repertoire. This programme includes some favourites – but in unfamiliar guise – and some wonderful and little known gems too. Full of zest, fire and ‘soul’. Several premiere recordings.
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Russian Piano Music, Vol. 7 – Prokofiev
This album is taken from live performances in England between 2000 and 2005 by Russian pianist Sergei Dukachev and includes the Second and Seventh Sonatas, Visions Fugitives, and extracts from the composer’s piano transcription of ‘Romeo and Juliet’. Dukachev is gaining an enthusiastic following in the UK as well as in his native Russia, and the brilliance of these concert performances demonstrates why.
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Russian Piano Music, vol. 6 – Rachmaninov
Our acclaimed series continues with one of the acknowledged masters of Romantic music, Sergei Rachmaninov. This album is taken from live performances in England between 1999 and 2005 by Russian pianist Sergei Dukachev and includes some favourite Preludes and Etudes, the Second Sonata and the relatively rarely-heard Variations. Dukachev is gaining an enthusiastic following in the UK as well as in his native Russia, and the brilliance of these concert performances demonstrates why.
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Handel: Suites for Harpsichord, Vol. 1
Acknowledged without reservation as the greatest composer working in England in the 18th century, Georg Frideric Handel is revered worldwide as a master composer. His Harpsichord Suites are among the finest instrumental works of the period, and eight of those are presented here by Gilbert Rowland, one of Europe’s foremost harpsichordists.
These two well-filled discs are a real bargain for such accomplished performances.
More details for Volume Two and Volume Three.
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Bach: The Art of Fugue
Bach’s Art of Fugue is a great musical enigma; left strangely unfinished, it is thought perhaps to have been intended not for performance but as a definitive guide to the writing of fugues, or a personal musical message meant as the composer’s greatest legacy … in any event it is a supreme masterpiece and here is given a brilliant and individual interpretation, in which Diana Boyle (whose Metier CD of the 48 Preludes and Fugues, Book II is also highly praised) brings out classical-style emphasis and phrasing, bring the music alive more than in traditional dry and academic accounts. The recording omits the optional ‘canons’ but includes the ‘Inversus’ sections of Contrapuncti 12 and 13. Check out the artist index for more celebrated recordings by Diana Boyle of Bach, Beethoven and Brahms and Chopin.
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Inspiration – Homage to Maria Curcio
Maria Curcio was one of the most influential and sought after piano teachers of the latter part of the 20th century including among her students such luminaries as Martha Argerich, Peter Frankl, Radu Lupu, and Mitsuko Uchida – and Anthony Goldstone. Following Curcio’s death in 2009 at the age of 89, this is Goldstone’s tribute to his mentor – a fine recital in its own right, and works all of which have a connection to her, in some way or other. This is the first ever recording of the lovely Waltzes composed by Artur Schnabel. As a bonus we include one of the very few surviving recordings made by Maria Curcio, where she accompanies Elisabeth Schwarzkopf in a Mozart aria – a performance first broadcast in 1957.
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Venice in Mexico
Mexico after the Spanish arrived saw a great deal of European art and culture being imported, including music from the great centres such as Venice. Not having harpsichords to hand, it became usual to use local instruments, vihuela and guitarron, for continuo. This policy is used here, and the sharp clear sound of the strings with the rhythmic base gives these works a new impetus and vitality. The Vivaldi pieces are fairly well known but the fine concertos by Facco were only discovered relatively recently.
Soloists: Miguel Lawrence (sopranino recorder); Manuel Zogbi (violin); Daniel Armas (psaltery)