Brahms - Violin Concerto [Kremer/ Bernstein-Wiener Philharmoniker]

And here's another work from this wonderful 3 disc box set, surprisingly it's been almost a year since this work appeared in my Blog, it's one of my favourite Concertos, however i feel that Brahms laboured under the shadow of Beethoven, and never really shook off his influence, therefore i find a lot of similarities between Brahms and Beethoven, especially Brahms making a huge statement in the first movement with 22 minutes. 

Gidon Kremer is Latvian, born in 1947, he's now 64, one of the greatest living Violinists,  

Here's Gidon Kremer playing the slow middle movement on YouTube, with Bernstein conducting.

Beethoven - Symphony 7 [Ashkenazy-Philharmonia Orchestra]

For me this is the 'B' side to Beethoven's Symphony 5, which i played and reviewed last month [4th September 2011], it's one of the Beethoven nine that i've somewhat let slip out of my conciousness, it gets played nowhere near Symphonies 3, 5-6 & 9, and yet it's a tremendous work, one of Beethoven's best, and i'm glad to rekindle my acquaintance here. 

Vladimir Ashkenazy is a Russian Conductor and Pianist, now 74, he has a huge discography, of Conducting orchestral works, playing solo piano, playing Piano Concertos, or chamber music, he's very varied, he recorded this disc roughly a couple of decades ago, the front cover is from a Japanese issue, which i find a lot better than the original covers that these Symphonies came from. 

The whole Symphony is just so Beethoven isn't it?, a bit obvious, other Symphonies of his someone else might be able to steal and pretend is theirs, but the Seventh has the stamp of Beethoven all over it, and it's the first movement i found so utterly compelling, 

Here's Carlos Kleiber conducting the first movement on YouTube, check out 4:22-4:23 Kleiber is just so incredible.

Liszt - 12 Etudes D'Execution Transcendante [Duchable]

Now i must admit that Liszt isn't my favourite Composer, in fact far from it, he doesn't even get into my top 20, i dislike his Piano Concertos, i find his Orchestral music overblown, where he excelled was of course in the solo piano repertoire, but even here he has a tendency to be full of virtuoso and dash, quite often pompous and barnstorming in his works, trawling [and i mean trawling] through his compositions is hard work, it's all a menagerie of all sorts of stuff, no order or methodology to make it easy to collect / traverse, however... in saying all of that, there are gems to be heard, and not a few, he's worth the hard work, and here i enjoyed getting to know Liszt that little bit better. 

Francoise-Rene Duchable is French, he's now 59 years old, he recorded this disc in 1998, he has extensively recorded for the French label Erato, i like the creative front cover photo, Duchable on a high chair, completely white background for effect. 

So many times i have played this work, and have come away on the whole unsatisfied, there's stunning virtuosity aplenty, but poetry and lyricism?, a while back i was pleasantly stunned by Liszt's Harmonies Du Soir by Arrau, and the larger work that that single piece is taken from, has caused me to re-assess this work, and listen closer to the other pieces, one phenomenal thing that happened is that it caused me to watch a YouTube video by Boris Berezovsky, where he sweats his guts out playing the whole of the 12 live, i was also amazed by his Etude 4 'Mazeppa', just watch the pianism at 1:56-2:01, simply wow!, and when you can see the fingerwork, you appreciate the music so much more, so listening to this set anew...

I certainly found Etudes 4, 6 8 & 11 to be the most revelatory, and it's good to know that new favourites are bubbling to the surface, however i still find it's this Eleventh Etude 'Harmonies Du Soir' ['Evening Harmonies' or 'Harmonies of the Evening'] to be the most magical, an Etude yes, but it starts out gentle and poetic, even the main tune starts rhapsodic rather than virtuosic, but Liszt turns the main tune into a stunning rippling feast of chimerical notes [1:31-1:52], my favourite part of the whole piece, later Liszt can't help but move into barnstorming anthemic mode [4:55-5:41], with hands going up and down the keyboard while hammering out the tune, and this in turn leads straight into the main tune played at a delicious forte [5:41-6:00], and Liszt's coda / ending is slowing down the piece into gentleness [6:00+ & 6:28+], as Liszt's evening harmonies descend into night. 

Here's Duchable playing Etude 11 'Harmonies Du Soir' on YouTube, it's fairly quietly recorded there.

Chopin - Piano Music 'Reminiscences' [Pizarro]

I bought this a while back, i haven't played it a great deal, mainly inspired by the lovely portrait on the cover, this is a recital disc, covering many aspects of Chopin's different works, rather than a systematic recording of one work, most Chopin recitals tend to have a good mix, this one has a great tendency to gravitate towards the Waltz and the Mazurka, with a few Nocturnes also thrown in, but not a Prelude or Etude in sight, the Mazurkas and Waltzes are my least favourite Chopin, probably why i haven't warmed to this recital as a usually do with a chopin disc. 

Artur Pizarro is from Portugal, now 43, he's still fairly young i guess, he made quite a few useful recordings for the Collins Classics label, especially a Scriabin Mazurkas disc, now he's with the Scottish label Linn Records, he made this recording in 2004, the cover photo is great [by Sven Arnstein], Pizarro sitting on the piano stool, with his back to the piano, nice dark colours, and lovely central lettering.