Beethoven - Symphony 9 [Sinopoli-Staatskapelle Dresden] 

I listened to this while walking through the park, and it was a lovely fresh day, and this disc in its reading is a breath of fresh air also, Sinopoli is very individual, i hear him doing different things than the usual, and yet there's logic to what he does, i think i need to seriously listen to what he has to say in other works also.

Giuseppe Sinopoli was born in 1946 in Italy, and died in 2001 of a heart attack, sustained while conducting Verdi's Aida, he made this live recording in 1997, the booklet front cover [photo by Ludwig Schirmer] shows Sinopoli standing outside the Staatsoperner Dresden, a nice pic.

The whole Symphony is a joy from beginning to end, each movement plays its part, for me, the first two movements were the highlights, usually i find the slow third movement the spiritual highlight, but on this listen i marvelled at the wonderful structure in the first half of the Symphony, and it was the second movement Molto Vivace that was the very best, like a gigantic swaggering juggernaut, this Scherzo lumbers along with a stammering gait, Sinopoli paces the whole thing expertly, early on there's these four loud timpani blasts [2:55-3:00] like out of nowhere, the forte passages are great [3:29+ & 4:04+], giving some nice vehemence, this is a movement that is more brass & drums, and certainly with this truncated lopsided gait to it all, but in the central section comes more of a strings & woodwind legato passage [5:04-7:31], a nice oasis in the staccato desert, as the opening returns, and the jumpy rhythms go again, the same four timpani blasts come round again [9:12-9:17], and the same two forte passages as well [9:45+ & 10:20+], a great creation from Beethoven, and re-creation from Sinopoli.

Here's Janos Ferencsik conducting the second movement on YouTube.

Prokofiev - Piano Sonata 6 [Pogorelich] 

This is the second work on this disc i'm reporting on, a couple of months ago i spoke about Pogorelich's wonderful Gaspard [18th February 2011], his Prokofiev might not be quite as good, but it's still quite stunning, and this is a great rare disc that it's good to own, i saw it on Ebay, and just had to snap it up.

Ivo Pogorelich was born in Yugoslavia in 1958, now Croatia, he made this recording in 1982, and is considered one of the very best things he has ever done, Pogorelich is extremely controversial, pianistically he seems to have gone to pieces, there's a genius in him, but it now seems to be stuck in him and can't get out, the booklet cover [photo by Malcolm Crowthers] is excellent, elbows on knees, chin on hands, a nice pose.

I don't consider Pogorelich perfect, this is the first time i've listened to this disc, and i find him a little quirky [but there again Prokofiev is a quirky Composer], maybe a little tad too much staccato, when something smoother might have worked, but he's certainly compelling here, Prokofiev has a propensity to create movements that have both virtuoso bravura, with moments of lyrical repose within them [or vice versa], i must admit that i have not extensively listened to Prokofiev's solo piano music, so i'm still finding my way and familiarizing myself to his fantastical soundworld.

I liked the first two movements the best, especially the second movement Allegretto, it's the shortest movement of the whole work, at just under 5 minutes, it's of course a quirky little tune, with a stuttering staccato [0:00-0:39], and then the real drama begins, as the piece takes off, the quirky stutterings become more manic [0:39+], and there's an almost comical staccato high in the treble [0:50 & 1:10], the right hand gets agitated and frantic high in the treble [1:28-1:39], and with lots of 'duets' between bass left hand and treble right hand, a nice little dialogue occurs, and in the middle comes that moment of repose [2:13-3:49], and a minute before the end we return to the opening stuttering tune [3:52+], lovely quirky slapdash trills of sorts [4:02-4:06], and then to finish the right hand high in the treble taps out a nice ticking figure, while the left, also high-ish in the treble, hits every fourth note [4:26-4:33], a nice little effect to finish on, you have to listen to Prokofiev carefully to find his musical genius, like little notes stuffed inbetween pages in odd books in the library, you are forced to become well read to find them all!.

Here's on Yuja Wang playing this Sonata on YouTube, the second movement is [8:50-13:22].

Beethoven - Overtures [Harding-Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie] 

It's so nice to have a disc dedicated to the very best Overtures of Beethoven, there really is something noble and universal about his Overtures, not merely intros to the main big work, but almost a composite of everything that comes after, it's like a movie trailer that you see, and it looks truly exciting, but when you watch the film, it's not actually any good!, well Beethoven's Overtures are like movie trailers, full of action and suspense, the best little vignettes of the film crammed into a 5-10 minute episode, like microcosms of the universe!.

Daniel Harding is an English Conductor, cutting his teeth alongside Simon Rattle in Birmingham, he made this wonderful recording in 1999, the front cover photo of the booklet [by Ranald Mackechnie] is expertly done, a very intense solo study of Harding, looking straight into the lens, all in focus, but the background is nicely out of focus, a potted tree to the right, with the Virgin logo atop, and the lettering is excellent too, white on his dark shirt, and then the 'Overtures' in dark grey against a lighter background, very nice usage of different fonts, the final product is a truly well balanced shot that has a startling impact.

Most of these Overtures were really thrilling, they had me on the edge of my seat, but it was tracks 1-3, 6 & 8 that were the very best, with track 3 Egmont Overture the very best of them all, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen is as the title explains, a Chamber Orchestra, this gives the sound a certain litheness, instead of a soupy warm sound a mega Orchestra would give, Harding must have also taken some ideas from the historically informed performance brigade, as his Orchestra can at times sound cannily like an original instruments band, he thrashes his forces fiercely in fortissimos, and is then fairly nonchalant in quieter passages, focusing on the contrasts between slow and fast, loud and soft, creating aural g-forces in all sorts of sharp bends, sometimes i wish he would be more lyrical and restrained here and there, less contrasty, you also slightly hear him at work, whether it's breathing, or i guess the mikes picking up him jumping around on the podium, but one thing's for sure, these are certainly startling readings to make you sit up and take notice.

On to the Egmont Overture, Harding emphasises the staccato-ness of the opening phrases, and the woodwind are fairly restrained, but i like the second fanfare in the intro [0:40+], louder than the first, and more menacing, Harding just loves contrasts, you can hear him setting these up, i love the way the violins become agitated and more frantic [2:07+], culminating in a great forte [2:23], and Beethoven has this device of tying us all up in knots, only to release us like he's our saviour [2:38+], a very clever and satisfying device, the strings have upward surges, with an exclamation timpani beat at the end of them [3:09-3:20], Beethoven seems to have an endless array of neat little tricks to tickle our ears, these exclamation beats are all over the piece, the build up again of the strings is excellent [4:17+], which leads to the forte outburst from the brass and timpani [4:33+], this time even more ferocious, lovely timpani hits and rasping brass!, and it's this brass and timpani that have a moment of pure magic right after, a startling couple of beats out of nowhere [4:47], against the grain of the music, but yet perfectly making the music make sense, it's hard to explain, it's as if Beethoven reverses the flow, and the thing ends up standing on its head, the very best moment of the Overture in my mind, into the home straight Beethoven fills the closing pages with a frantic-ness [6:25+], and the dying seconds are anything but a lovely fade, rather a nice military send off! [7:28-7:39], with the piccolo making a superb contribution, three pips on piccolo, one after another, and then two in quick succession, what an outro!, thanks Beethoven / Harding. 

Here's Lorin Maazel conducting the Egmont Overture on YouTube.

Brahms - Piano Concerto 2 [Ashkenazy /Mehta-London Symphony Orchestra] 

Wow!, this could surely become the 'recording of the month' for April, playing this disc while out foe a walk today, was one of those rare sublime moments where everything comes together in an incredible wave of perfection, i don't know if i was just so much in the mood, or the fact i love this work, and for some reason i haven't heard it for some time, so it hits me more when i get round to hearing it again, but i love these intense moments of musical nirvana!, also this is in fact the first time this work appears in my Blog.

Vladimir Ashkenazy is of course Russian, now 73 years old, this recording was made in 1967, however it sounds wonderfully modern, the front cover booklet photograph is excellent, a Decca ovation release, with a nice shot of Ashkenazy at the piano [by Richard Holt], with some well placed / coloured lettering, a very well balanced and pleasing presentation, this caught my eye on Ebay, and i had to buy it.

Well what can i say?, all of the movements were of a high degree of ecstasy for me, i was so thrilled with the First movement, and i have to mention one passage here that truly impressed me, between [10:02-11:00], the use of the woodwinds are fantastic, especially the clarinet, the piano chords are thrilling, and the use of treble in the piano is gloriously radiant, even the subtle use of the bassoon is a joy, an inspired passage.

But it's the following Second movement Allegro Appassionato that really held my heart spellbound, it's in the key of D Minor, a dark and troublesome key which lots of other Composers have utilised to represent a real struggle, usually death! [Mozart's Requiem, and Schubert's String Quartet 14 for example, and in the same key as his First Piano Concerto, which it seems to belong to], straight away there's an agitation and turmoil, but the quiet yet icy violins come in [0:38-0:51], and repeat again at [2:28-2:41], a lovely effect, there's a nice gentle solo piano passage at [2:55-3:22], showing off the main lyrical tune of the movement, lovely and atmospheric, and there's a tremendous release of majesty from the orchestra [4:44-4:59], the piano gets very dreamy at [5:41-5:59], but still dark-ish and couched in mystery, towards the end the orchestra comes in forte, while the piano lingers deep in the background with bass chords [6:57-7:37], it's full of a restless vibe, i really loved this movement today. 

Here's Elizabeth Leonskaja playing the Second movement on YouTube.

Various Composers - Violin Virtuoso [Wei/ Nicholson] 

I like these encore collections, lots of small pieces of music, nothing lasting any more than five minutes, by over a dozen different Composers, a nice varied selection, though in this case Xue-Wei misses out on some possible gems [Paganini's Cantabile for example], and instead gives us some more run of the mill pieces [the Gershwin / Prokofiev / Rachmaninov items for instance], most of these pieces i've heard of, but there's two or three that are new that were good to acquaint myself with today.

Xue-Wei is Chinese, born in 1963, he emigrated to England in 1985, he quickly rose to stardom early in his career, winning a number of competitions, but has now dropped off the map, i never hear about him anymore, i like the layout of the booklet front cover, a picture of Xue-Wei deep in concentration playing [photo by Tim Jenkins], the very large name in orange at the top, the dark green and orange actually go well together, it's the different styles of lettering that actually do work together, this recital was recorded in 1990 i think.

The 3 pieces i liked the most were 2, 11 & 13, however i must admit that the recording isn't really top notch, it's reverberant, and fairly bassy, the piano sounds deep in the rolling bass, there's no plink of the sharp treble, the violin is better recorded, but it's still too much of a close recording, there's no lovely left and right distance, but the music is still great, here's a short synopsis of the 3 works that i thought were the best,
2 Sarasate - Playera, a fairly dark and solemn piece, it has a flamenco style in the piano, reminds me of the piano music of Albeniz, the melody in the violin can reach some wonderful sonorities [2:13-2:25 & 2:44-2:57], a sad lament in a way. 
11 Gluck - Melody, another tune of sadness and regret, the violin is given a tremendous lyricalness, while the piano is reduced to mere accompaniment to fill in the gaps, there's cries of anguish in the violin when it reaches its zenith.
13 Tchaikovsky - Melody, a happier tune, and yet even here there's a sense of longing and nostalgia, the violin climaxes with some nice trills halfway through [1:25-1:38].

Beethoven - Violin Sonata 9 [Zukerman/ Barenboim] 

Another disc of the Kreutzer Sonata, i played this earlier in the month with Szeryng [9th April 2011], this was only recorded 6 years earlier than that performance, but sounds a lot older, this Sonata is my favourite, and gets a lot of play regularly.

Pinchas Zukerman is an Israeli Violinist, he emigrated to the United States in 1962, and now lives in Canada, he is 62 years old, he made this recording in the early Seventies, the booklet cover photograph is by Paul Mitchell, showing violins in close up in black and white, this is an EMI series entitled 'Gemini', black and white photographs, with a different colour scheme on each release, this one is red / maroon, very effective indeed, the recording isn't perfect, about 40 years old now, but still reasonable. 

This Violin Sonata is the pinnacle achieved by Beethoven in the medium, full of memorable tunes, and a real turn of universal expression, it was the ultra serious first movement that i found so compelling, i like the very revolutionary solo violin opening, a screeching out of tune intro [0'00-1:11], which is eventually joined by the piano, it takes a full 2 minutes before the Presto part of the movement gets underway [2:15+], nicely frantic and intense, but there's moments of lyrical rest inbetween all the presto fierceness, like a tightening of the knots, and then a release of those same knots, it's a real powerhouse of forward momentum. 

Here's Akiko Suwanai playing the first movement on YouTube.