Sibelius - Symphony 2 [Jansons-Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra]

Mariss Jansons was born in Latvia in 1943, he is now 67, he made these recordings in 1992, the booklet cover is a close head shot crop, nice sharp focus on the face, and dark on the shoulder, where the white and light blue lettering is nicely placed, giving a pleasing balance.

This time i enjoyed the first movement, seems like i enjoy a different movement each time i hear this Symphony,

Here's the opening of the Symphony, conducted by Lan Shui on YouTube.

Brahms - Violin Concerto [Oleg/Pesek-Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra]

This is a great coupling of two great Concertos, i wonder why this isn't done more, these recording were made in 1991, the booklet cover is a nice pic of Oleg, nice sky blue background, and a rather reddish brown violin, nice colour combination.

Raphael Oleg is French, born in 1959, he made this recording in 1991 when he was 32.

This time listening to this Concerto, i found the opening movement very compelling, it has a long orchestral intro [up to 2:47 before the violin makes its first appearance], scored in the major key of D Major, and yet Brahms seems to make it sound so dark and turbulent, full of contrasting sweet an sour, Oleg doesn't play the usual Joachim cadenza on the first movement, but rather one that has a lot of similar sounding notes [18:12], but there's no mention of who this cadenza is by, right after the cadenza [21:14-22:41], the Concerto slows down, and there's some of the loveliest moments penned by Brahms, loads of nostalgia and sweet regret, a lovely finish to a mammoth first movement.

Here's Kyung Sun Lee playing the first movement on YouTube.

Schumann - Cello Concerto [Du Pre/ Barenboim-New Philharmonia Orchestra]

I bought this disc a few months ago off of Ebay, mainly because of the wonderful front cover, nice red and blue, plus a great shot of Jacqueline Du Pre [Reg Wilson], plus the music / interpretations are great too, it's good to have a disc of the Cello and Piano Concertos with the Husband/Wife combination of Du Pre / Barenboim.

The British Cellist Jacqueline Du Pre was born in 1945, and died in 1987 of Multiple Sclerosis, she recorded this Concerto in 1968.

I was moved by the central movement, it's a sorrowful lament, the main theme is gorgeous [0:00-0:53], the pizzicato strings in the background could be tears, there comes an even gentler section for the cello, where the cello seems to play two strings at once [1:45-2:40], it's sad and exhilarating at the same time, and the main theme returns towards the end [2:42-3:35], sounding more soothing and gorgeous than before, it's only a short movement [4:39], but it's packed full of good things indeed, a lovely Cello Concerto.

Here's Jacqueline Du Pre playing the slow movement on YouTube, it starts at 2:44.

Bach - The Well Tempered Clavier [Nikolayeva]

Wow what a box set!, and more importantly what interpretations!, 4 discs in a 'fatbox' disc housing, with 12 Preludes / Fugues conveniently on each disc, apart from the last two, it's also good to have a full track listing on the back, and more importantly each Prelude and Fugue aren't cued separately from each other, it makes it easier to know where i am in my listening.

I play these pieces on 'random' on my player, just to mix them up nicely [one reason why separately cued Preludes / Fugues don't work!], you don't know what you're going to get next.

Tatiana Nikolayeva was Russian, born in 1924, she passed away in 1993, she recorded this set in 1984, i also like the photo on the front cover, plus the yellow theme.

Well what can i say about these pieces?, there's so much to enjoy, this work takes a lifetime to slowly appreciate, it seems it just can't be hurried, the Preludes & Fugues that really caught my eye / ear were 1, 3, 9, 17, 25, 31, 36, 39 & 42, i must admit that i have a 'thing' for these Preludes, but the Fugues don't rate so highly.

Well i'll plump for Prelude & Fugue 9 [BWV 854], it's actually the shortest of the whole set, coming in at 2:24, it's innocent and disarming, a great little tune [0:00-1:12], the treble and bass take turns playing the tune [right and left hands] and overlap each other nicely, little trills in the right hand give it a regal quality, the prelude repeats the opening [0:40+], and it opens and flowers all over again in a wonderful way, the fugue starts at [1:13], Nikoleyeva likes to play it loud, possibly as a nice contrast to the prelude, like i said it's short, but it's a perfect little number.

Here's Eric Durham playing Prelude 9 on YouTube

Beethoven - Piano Concerto 5 [Uchida/ Sanderling-Symphonie Orchester Des Bayerischen Rundfunks]

Here's a really nice boxed set, 3 discs well housed in a 'fatbox' triple case, these are all excellent interpretations, it's good to have Uchida's thoughts on these grand works.

The front cover/booklet is a nice monotone photograph by Maarten Corbijn, nice chocolate & cream colouring, with well laid out lettering by Claudia Wafer, i can't believe this set is now available brand new on Amazon for only £9.99!, these works are priceless, and Beethoven won't see a penny of the royalties!.

I so much enjoyed the ethereal second movement, it's one of those heavenly Beethoven moments, where his true genius shines, with gentle strings only, the tune is caressed [0:00+], woodwind join in [0:54+], and then the piano enters as soft and gentle as the string opening [1:41], however it's halfway through that the piece is at it's best, the piano gently plays the theme with the strings on pizzicato in the background [4:38+], the woodwind come in again [5:01+], and then the strings bowing [5:18+], and the piano has this extra passionate section [5:28+], which culminates in turning the thing on its head, now the flute/woodwind play the theme, while the piano plays a gently rolling secondary rhythm [5:56+], it is so beautiful, this is the best section of this movement, Beethoven is a genius!, very gradually the whole thing slows down, the playing goes down the keyboard to a close [7:45], this music truly caresses my soul.

Here's Helene Grimaud playing the second movement on YouTube, with Paavo Jarvi conducting.

Beethoven - String Quartet 8 [Quartetto Italiano]

My favourite Razumovsky Quartet is definitely the first, and the other two are well in the shadows, but now, this Quartet is emerging from those shadows, i'm really learning to love it.

Another String Quartet from this 3 disc boxset, i played a couple of these Quartets over the last two months [1 July 2010 & 12 June 2010], and this has been another enlightening experience, a lovely cover pic too, by Arje Plas.

I so much enjoyed the second movement on this playing, there's a simple yearning to this Adagio, so songful and heartfelt, i find that this movements structure is so free flowing, it weaves in and out of melodies and ideas, and it's hard to pinpoint where something starts or ends, also great melodic ideas just creep up on you, gradually you realise Beethoven has sneaked in a great idea without you realising where or when it came in or from, the true sign of a genius.

It starts off with a such a gentle unassuming tune [0:00-1:33], a lovely theme which introduces the nature of the whole movement, but it deepens and becomes more intense [1:39+], and there's this truly gorgeous little note at [1:52], the violin sings high and sweetly in the treble like a songbird [2:37+], and there's this little endearing tune [3:36+], it breaks your heart, then somewhere around [7:45+] the music becomes ethereal, it's as if bar lines come to an end and the music goes off the page for the next few minutes, again the music intensifies at [8:25+], the music is so unassuming, there's a little phrase at [8:58-9:07] that just 'gets' me, i can't really put my finger on it, it sounds like something i remember from Jean Michel Jarre's Oxygene part 5, about [1:01+] in, how things hang/hide in my memory, wow! i'm more in love with this movement now i've reviewed it, and been able to dissect its qualities, the key word here is 'unassuming'.

Here's the second movement being played on YouTube.

Grieg - Piano Concerto [Bakkelund/Gunther Hegge-Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra]

This disc is turning out to be a treasure, the booklet picture is one of the best in these RCA Classical Navigator series, a wonderful map of southern Norway, nice and crisp, lovely angled lines, and nice colours too.

This Concerto was recorded in 1959, however it's a very good sound indeed, the piano seems to be more upfront than the orchestra, but beautifully caught, of course there's analogue hiss, but it's not particularly distracting.

Kjell Bakkelund is a Norwegian pianist, born in 1930, he passed away 6 years ago, he made this recording when he was 29.

This time i just loved the slow movement, there's a deep but gentle passion there, it can take your breath away, it's only a short movement, about 6 minutes long, but is packed to the hilt with a beautiful aching tune, even the intro without the piano conveys that passion [0:00-2:11], but it's when the piano enters that a magic really begins [2:11+], it's so dreamy, and when it plays the opening again [2:52+], there's some great use of the treble on the keyboard, the horns make quite an impression in this movement [4:14+ & 5:28+], creating a nice autumn golden feeling in the coda, a lovely 6 minutes.

Here's Thibaudet playing the slow movement on YouTube, with Dudamel conducting.