Brahms - Violin Sonata 2 [Znaider/Bronfman] 

Another lovely Sonata from Nikolaj Znaider, last month i was enchanted by the First Violin Sonata [5th Jan 2011], this month it's onto the Second Sonata, and in many ways it's my favourite, especially the middle movement which constantly oscillates between Andante and Vivace.

Nikolaj Znaider is Danish, born in 1975, and 35 years old today, this disc was recorded in 2005, just another mention about the booklet cover [photo by Vanessa Lenz], it's actually the back cover, and i rubbed these white transfer lettering on it to make it into a front booklet!, i feel i've done a great job, the original front cover was merely large lettering on a boring black background, and no picture at all, now it's much more pleasing, with both the violin and piano in the picture, and both the Artists visible, mainly with blacks and browns in the colours.

Here's Kyung Sun Lee playing the Andante Tranquillo second movement on YouTube.

Elgar - Cello Concerto [Lloyd Webber/ Menuhin-Royal Philharmonic Orchestra] 

The companion piece to the Enigma Variations i played last month [12th January 2011], these two works make an ideal pairing, and this disc has won a number of awards which it fully deserves, this disc sits just outside my all time favourite discs at 114, surprisingly this is the first time that Elgar's Cello Concerto appears in my Blog.

Julian Lloyd Webber is an English Cellist, now 59 years old, he recorded this work in 1985, 
i think the booklet front cover is tremendous, a wonderfully symmetric photo [by Richard Holt], with a bust of Elgar rightfully central to the picture, sandwiched between the Cellist and the Conductor, with wood panelling in the background, with excellent lighting showing the detail of the wood, in its many hues of browns and oranges.

The start of the first movement is such a wonderful way to start a Cello Concerto, with a cello solo! [0:00-1:06], and so dark and mysterious too [in E Minor], it's very much a sad lament, composed just after the First World War, it depicts Elgar's thoughts on that war, i like the moment further down the line where the cello starts to raise its voice [2:15-2:40], very impassioned, especially towards the end, and right after the orchestra comes in forte with the same tune [2:39-3:00], it's in these passages that the cello is certainly bleak, i like the way soon after the cello plays a few bass pizzicato notes [3:25+], and gets in a little dialogue with the woodwinds, and towards the end the opening orchestral Allegro is reprised gently on the strings [6:54+], and after a short cello figure the orchestra come in forte with the main tune [7:17+], a lovely moment of reminisce, it's a great start to a Cello Concerto, which i'm learning to understand and love more and more.

Here's Lloyd Webber and Menuhin playing the opening movement on YouTube. 

Mozart - Piano Concerto 21 [Barenboim-Berliner Philharmoniker] 

Only two days ago i was raving about the other Piano Concerto on this disc [30th January 2011], this Concerto is almost its equal, but the first movement of 20 is so incredibly rhythmic and surging, and dark too, it's just irresistible, so too is the slow movement of 21, it's so charming and moving, they make an ideal coupling, being next to each other in composition, and 21 written a month later.

Daniel Barenboim was born in Argentina in 1942, and recorded this Concerto in 1986. 

Well what can i say about the slow movement Andante?, except that it's so beguiling, however i really do feel that Barenboim takes it too slow, it's an Andante not an Adagio, it needs a certain flow to it, he brings out the sweet beauty, but at the expense of the rhythms and surges, at the start the orchestra create an introduction, a lovely sweeping / flowing melody in the high violins, underpinned by a rhythm chugging away on the lower strings, this melody finds a wonderful resolution after a minute [1:17-1:49], with the woodwinds / flute bringing an autumn glow to proceedings, and this resolution returns twice more, each time with piano [3:54+ & 6:53+] with greater effect, when the piano first enters, it does so quietly in the bass [1:48+], creating a background chug for the piano melody in the treble [1:53-2:44], it's such a gorgeous piano melody to boot, another thing i notice is the lovely use of the bassoon in the background in places [4:32+], right at the close the piano bass plays the melody [7:22-7:36], a nice variation from the treble, i really enjoyed so much this soothing music today.

Here's Daniel Barenboim playing the slow movement on YouTube.

Various Composers - Violin Showpieces [Perlman/Mehta-New York Philharmonic] 

This disc resides at number 7 in my all time favourite list, out of 1600 odd discs i own that's high!, i've played this countless times, and each time i've marvelled at the playing of Itzhak Perlman, in his heyday he could play the violin so effortlessly, even under extreme pressure of complex / virtuosic scores, and do it with such panache and insouciance, for an idea of what i mean, just listen if you can to the closing pages of Sarasate's Carmen Fantasy, the screws of difficulty tighten and tighten, but Perlman takes it in his stride, almost laughing it off, turn to Anne-Sophie Mutter and you can feel the pressure and the grimace as she tries to hold it together. 

Itzhak Perlman is an Israeli Violinist, born in 1945, making him 65 today, he recorded this disc in 1986.

Well on this listen i have to admit that it was the closing work on this disc that made my heart jump, the Introduction And Rondo Capriccioso from Saint-Saens, is a 9 minute extravaganza, but full of poetry too, i must admit there doesn't seem a lot of structure to the piece, it meanders all over the place, more like a Fantasy than a Rondo, the Introduction [0:00-1:38] lasts roughly 20% of the piece, a more quiet and sad refrain, but at the changeover into the Rondo Capriccioso there's an orchestral / timpani 'jump', and then the fun starts!, like the strike of midnight and all the colourful characters and magic begin, some of the highlights are as follows,

1:50, 3:13 & 5:34 - right after each of the three 'jumps', the violin plays a lovely gypsy / fiddle figure, each time i hear it i marvel at Perlman's virtuosity.

2:22 - Perlman plays some high trills and a few screeching notes, very effective.
2:43 - and very short quick notes and trills, nicely up and down the violin.
5:20 - and high notes, up very high in the violin tessitura, extremely short and fast too, but quickly coming down to the bass, a lovely shot of virtuosity!.
7:02 - again another set of high wire trills, one after another.
7:23 - 8:01 - then comes for me the highlight of the piece, all sorts of effects are displayed by the Fiddler, but it's the violin that chugs along on it's trapeze act, while an oboe appears [7:40], and plays the sad melody, while the oblivious violin keeps going.
8:18 - and of course there's a finale, where the violin just can't resist showing off in a lovely ending.

Here's Perlman playing Saint-Saens Introduction And Rondo Capriccioso on YouTube.

Mozart - Piano Concerto 20 [Barenboim-Berliner Philharmoniker] 

Another disc played while walking on the way to Church, my favourite Mozart Piano Concerto, this is a Concerto where the Conductor plays the piano as well, i'm not too sure if this is good practice, how can you possibly conduct when your hands are on the piano keys?, even though i must admit i very much like Uchida conducting from the keyboard [see below], and it works very well with a small chamber unit, also on YouTube both Andras Schiff and Friedrich Gulda conduct this work from the keyboard too, so Barenboim is not alone.

Daniel Barenboim is an Argentinian conductor and Pianist, now 68 year old, he recorded this work in 1988, the booklet picture is pleasing enough, showing Barenboim conducting with blurred hands, i believe Barenboim recorded a cycle of the late Mozart Piano Concertos for Teldec [20-27], available in 4 discs individually, each one has a different colour theme, with this one in green.

I very much enjoyed the opening first movement of this work, it's a gorgeous dark opening [in my favourite D Minor], full of lovely rhythms and surges, first off the recording, i must admit it's a bit fierce, too shallow in the stereo, the individual instruments aren't separated enough left and right, also it can be quite shrill in the treble in fortissimos, there's not enough of a warm bloom on the recording, also i wonder if the work was properly rehearsed beforehand, there's a few ugly moments where the Orchestra blast away at full volume, when a more restrained approach would have been more pleasing, maybe the BP were on autopilot, but the gear changes between certain sections don't spring naturally from one to the next, having said all that, it's a testament to the genius of Mozart that his music is so compelling, even when the recording / performance is not ideal, don't get the idea i think this is a poor performance, in fact i enjoyed it so very much.

On to the actual music, and how i felt about it, the opening is sheer magic [0:00-2:24], like i said, in a dark minor key, and Mozart takes advantage of this in spades, the surges and waves at the beginning are incredible, there's almost an incantation intoned by the lower dark strings in the bass, like a repetitive mantra, and it's so wonderful to hear it as a delicious rhythm in the background, but it's not just about constant volume surges, but also waves of volume, you can hear at [0:16+] the agitation getting louder and more desperate, then there's the fortissimos [0:29+], thunderous blasts on the timpani, followed by angry strings, the dark / brooding / frantic way the strings surge away at [1:21+] has me on the edge of my seat as it were, this whole orchestral intro has got to be the very best part of the whole work, and the only thing that comes close to it is these opening rhythms with piano, the orchestra repeats the very opening [2:50+], and then magically the piano comes in with bass warblings [2:58+], that turn slowly into treble warblings, another great moment from the masters workbench, there's an oboe and bassoon melody that is punctuated by flute [4:12+ & 9:30+] that is such a breath of fresh air, there's also a lovely transition from bass piano musings, to the opening very opening rhythms again [7:38+], and it's these opening rhythms that appear all over the place in this movement, which tingle and delight every time, all in all an endless wealth of ideas and sheer enjoyment from Mozart.

Here's Mitsuko Uchida conducting and playing the first movement on YouTube.

Dvorak - Symphony 9 [Mackerras-Prague Symphony Orchestra] 

This is the first time Dvorak's Ninth appears in my Blog, and this is well overdue, it's my favourite Dvorak Symphony, and this is only the second time i've played this actual disc, but what revelations!, a wonderfully mellow recorded disc, bringing out all sorts of subtleties.

Charles Mackarras was an Australian Conductor, he died 7 months ago at the age of 84, he recorded this live disc in 2005, a nice pleasing photo of Mackerras [by David Port], in a relaxing pose, nicely lit, with some nice shadows on the left, which give depth and show nice contours.

Of course i love the beautiful slow Largo, with its gorgeous cor anglais solo, but... on this listen i was even more thrilled with the Scherzo [Molto Vivace] third movement, like i said earlier, i really like the glow of this recording, it isn't clinical and sharp, there's a certain degree of ambivalence to it, a real autumnal feeling, the Prague Symphony Orchestra doesn't sound large, and there's definitely this space in which the woodwinds can be heard so magically, also the movement fires along at a very brisk pace, and yet it doesn't sound garbled and hurried, just a certain fizz to it all, i guess one of the things i notice more than ever, is the extensive use of the triangle!, right from the beginning of the movement it rings away like an alarm clock, startling and waking me up, and it comes back all over the place, i like the way the woodwind bleat away in morse code [0:08-0:13], and right after the timpani fire off a couple of triple beats [0:21 & 0:24], and these timpani can be well heard, a very nice acoustic echo, the whole opening is repeated again [0:40-1:23], and it's so good to hear the timpani again [1:02-1:05], the middle part of the movement has some glorious rustic music, and i love the way Dvorak uses his woodwinds here, the bassoon shyly introduces us to this section [1:24+], then the cor anglais and clarinet give us one of those immortal tunes [1:29-1:57], these woodwinds are so unassuming in the recording, they let the nostalgic tune do the speaking, i cannot speak highly enough of how this little half a minute makes me feel, this is the highlight of the Symphony for me today, and notice the triangle ringing all over the place, the second part of the middle section brings in another glorious rustic tune, and the frantic strings and the warbling woodwind toss around this tune in a playful way [3:26-3:52 & 4:05-4:30], the opening comes back, and even the middle section has a reprise, it's a movement packed full of goodies, when you slit it's belly open and look inside with an autopsy!.

Here's Herbert Von Karajan conducting the third movement on YouTube.

Bruckner - Symphony 8 [Sinopoli-Staatskapelle Dresden] 

I played this disc to participate on a Classical discussion forum, listen to the Symphony and post your thoughts / feelings, i decided to listen to the Sinopoli discs, his reading is 86 minutes long, spread over two discs, yes his is a measured reading, other versions can be issued on one disc, it's one of those works that seems to hit the 80 minute mark, some go over and some under, compared to other Bruckner Eighths that i have,

Barenboim - 77

Wand - 81

Harnoncourt - 83

Haitink - 85

Sinopoli - 86

Giuseppe Sinopoli was born in Italy, and died of heart attack sustained during the conducting of Verdi's Aida in 2001, he was 54, the booklet shows the Opera House of the Staatskapelle Dresden, and in the background the bombed out ruins of the Second World War, not too sure what it's trying to say alongside Bruckner's Eighth.

Well this listening experience was truly staggering, i've never enjoyed this Symphony so much, all the movements were a pure revelation, at the moment the 4th Symphony is my favourite, but i really feel that could change, and this one could surpass it, 

Herbert Von Karajan conducting the third movement Adagio on YouTube.