Chopin - 24 Etudes [Gavrilov]

Recorded in 1985 and 1987, this disc was a bit of a sensation when it came out, Gavrilov incites a degree of controversy, i find Gavrilov's Etudes are fairly rushed, at times even garbled, sometimes he trips up over his own fingers, maybe he's looking so far ahead to what he wants to say next, that he can't see where he is now!, and stumbles over the obvious.

However, at the same time, there's a thrilling bravura in some of these Etudes, in others Gavrilov makes you re-think, there's insights aplenty, and the entertainment value is high, i wouldn't want to be without Mr Gavrilov's views on these masterpieces.

It must be noted that the recording or the piano [or both], are a bit clangy / reverberant for my liking, but not overly so.

Well i enjoyed Etudes 3, 5, 8 & 12 from Op10, and 1 & 11 from Op25, his Op10/3 is actually very orthodox on the whole, Op10/5 is played at breakneck speed, and very staccato, however there's a nice tender moment toward the end [0:54-1:05], and the very end is s-t-a-c-c-a-t-o, in Op10/8 he is very heavy in the left hand, especially towards the end, Op10/12 i would say i enjoyed the most, it's very thrilling, nicely paced, lots of drama, a nice busy left hand, but again he does emphasise the staccato elements, Op25/1 has some nice poetry, but again Gavrilov must have hands made out of lead, he just can't play anything gently / dreamily, Op25/11 the intro is extra slow, and then when the main tune starts, it's extra fast, creating an unnatural extreme, maybe it might give some a jolt of excitement, but it sounds too contrived, as if he's yearning for showy effects, so the final analysis is bad = fast / staccato / loud, and good = breathtaking / surprising / unorthodox, try some Gavrilov see what you think, but Lortie, Berezovsky, Lugansky, Yokoyama, and Magaloff have so much more to say.

Here's Gavrilov playing the 'Revolutionary' Etude [Op10/12] on YouTube.

Article = Stephen Moss.

Wynton Marsalis [Black Codes From The Underground]

When i first developed a love for Jazz, i quickly got into Wynton Marsalis's albums, i bought roughly half of his, and even though i've sold some of them because they're too average, this is his very best album, i find he has just become too much in the last ten years, i don't follow him anymore.

This is probably Marsalis's best band, there's a nice intensity to these tracks, Marsalis and his men have matured over his first three albums, to the point that there's a nice understanding between them all, it's this 'telepathy' that makes a group great, and you can see/hear how they know what each other is going to do/play.

For me track 1 'Black Codes' really hits the mark, it opens with an unconventional mish mash of ideas, Kenny Kirkland's oblique piano stabbings should be duly noted, Wynton Marsalis comes in with his bright shining solo [1:26+], strong and sharp, Branford Marsalis uses the soprano sax on his solo [4:25+], an instrument that he's quite possibly better suited to than his tenor, and Kenny Kirkland gets his solo in [6:13+], the track nicely swings in places, and there's a nice intense fierceness there, a great opener.

It should be noted that there's a 'secret' seventh track called 'Blues', which features just Wynton Marsalis & Charnett Moffett, really good, it works so well.

Vivaldi - Cello Concerto RV420 [Wallfisch/ Kraemer-City Of London Sinfonia]

This fourth volume of Cello Concertos, played by Raphael Wallfisch are superb [i hope Naxos issue the full 4 volumes as a boxset sometime], the sheer invention of Vivaldi is incredible, if you love the inventiveness of the Four Seasons, then you will discover that there are equal magical moments all over his roughly 500 odd Concertos.

Of these 7 Concertos on this disc, RV420 really got my attention, and mainly it's the final movement, it's such a whirlwind of a piece, building up tension, and then releasing it, not to mention it's in a minor key, it starts off with the strings making some frantic hurried sounds, and a slight whiff of dissonance adds to the mix [0:00-0:29], which returns again and again and again [0:52, 1:36, 2:30 & 3:13], repetition when used right is the boon of enjoyment, i love hearing an excellent device again and again, it seems that it builds up each time you hear it, multiplying the effect, in this movement it's not the Cello that's the star, it's those frantic strings!, and that harpsichord in the background, the cello just gives a nice rest to the ears now and again.

Here's the third movement of RV420, played by Jonathon Cohen on YouTube.

Kenny Garrett [Standard Of Language]

Kenny Garrett will hit the big 5-0 later this year, happy half century Kenny!, i bought this disc a while back [probably 2006, second hand Camden Town for £3!], and initially i have felt it was one of his average albums, but on this listen i have started to fall in love with a few tracks, it's a slow burner of an album.

I really liked tracks 2-4, i suppose i liked track 2 the best 'Kurita Sensei', it has that incredibly funky feel about it, especially the rhythm at the beginning, it starts off with the piano stamping out the chords, and the drums [Chris Dave] with this funky drive [0:00-0:17], i love the tic tic, toc toc beat to it, the sax comes in with this funky as hell theme [0:18-0:49], it doesn't unfold as it logically should!, but instead it gets truncated at the end, and starts to tease in unexpected ways, the sax and piano [Vernell Brown] both get solos, and then the sax theme comes back in superbly with the opening tune [4:04-4:20], but the whole thing comes to an abrupt halt in a surprise ending.

Here's Kenny Garrett playing 'Native Tongue' live on YouTube, sadly it misses the lovely opening theme at the beginning and the end!, hmmm.

Interview = Richard Anderson.

Shostakovich - Symphony 10 [Solti-Chicago Symphony Orchestra]

Now here's something very special, the Hungarian Georg Solti conducting Shostakovich's mighty Tenth Symphony, over the last year i've been appreciating this Conductor more and more, he really has an exciting way of presenting a work, especially a long work, so you get to see each tree, but never at the expense of missing out on the grandeur of the whole forest.

This time listening, i was excited by the short 4 minute second movement, in some ways it seems out of place right after a 20+ minute slow movement, the gigantic and the tiny, but that's Shostakovich for you, juxtaposing two 'clashing / opposite' movements, this 'little scherzo' is relentless, right from the beginning the high woodwind come in and go berserk [0:04-0:22], the Symphony is scored for lots of percussive instruments, and the excellent use of a xylophone adds to the melee [0:48+], out of canter instruments make their appearance in the fray, the bassoon chugs away in the background [1:43+], the brass make crude fanfares [2:13+], and then more doleful ones [2:36+], while the timpani do drumrolls, and then drumbeats [3:18 & 3:23], the snare drums make its mark, and the movement end with a nice upward 'squeal', wow, Shostakovich really knows how to cram so much drama into 4 frantic minutes.

Here's Solti conducting the second movement on YouTube.

Schubert - 8 Impromptus [Leonskaja]

She's a Russian from Georgia, recorded a lot of discs on the Teldec label, most of them are now reissued on their budget Apex label, the original discs are hard to come by, especially the late Schubert Sonatas.

I've lived with Schubert's Impromptus for a long time, so i can usually tell what's really good, but i haven't lived with Leonskaja's recording for very long, so a thorough assessment is hard, i find she's quite slow, she takes over 70 minutes for all eight Impromptus [Brendel takes 10 minutes less], but she has a tendency to sustain this speed nicely, she can also 'sniff' during her playing, an inability to control her breathing maybe, but yet a very satisfying account of the Impromptus.

I especially enjoyed her Fifth Impromptu [D935/1], it's my favourite, and quite possibly my favourite piece of Classical music of all time, it's so very difficult to pinpoint a piece of magic in this work, as it's all magic, one thing i feel about this Impromptu, is that it weaves a tapestry which is so seamless, i remember a few years ago i played this while walking barefoot along a beach, where the waves meet the sand, the tide was going out, it left patterns in the sand, ridges glistening in the sun, plus the rhythm of waves always make me think of this Impromptu [or the other way round], it has such a build up of repetition, and yet nothing is really uniform, it's such a pliable piece, it goes all over the place, and yet is so faithful to the whole mood it creates.

It's good to have Leonskaja's take on this piece, another facet viewed from another angle, gives a truer perspective of the whole.

Here's Andras Schiff playing the First Impromptu of the second set on YouTube.

Prokofiev - Piano Concerto 2 [Krainev/ Kitaenko-Radio Sinfonie Orchester Frankfurt]

Two Russians, Vladimir Krainev & Dmitri Kitaenko work together perfectly, both fairly unknown by western audiences, this boxset of the Five Concertos is a very nice addition to my collection.

Prokofiev's Second Piano Concerto is superb, full of sardonic wit, jarring melodies, and always the unexpected and the welcome lingering around the corner, it's also full of the most intense variety, how does Prokofiev string it all together into a cohesive whole?.

I love the quirky third movement Intermezzo, it has so many instruments doing strange things, you can almost imagine each instrument is an animal, in some bizarre circus come to town, the 'laughing bassoons' [0:21-0:32], truly a moment of sheer genius, and they come back to laugh some more [2:12-2:22], the piano makes its entrance by this quirky lop-sided hand over hand tune [0:44-1:12], superb to watch as well as hear, there's a whole section in the middle that goes from a string waltz punctuated by flutes [3:54-4:15], and then the piano stutters a tune [4:16+], it slowly builds up by the brass filling the gaps [4:37+], and dissonant string stabbings [4:47+], ending in the piano going into forte mode [4:55+], a nice minute of controlled madness, towards the end it becomes a lumbering giant out of control [5:57-6:22], the more you listen to it, the more you discover that you want to hear next time round, this is the essence of discovery, and Prokofiev is a drug that you get hooked on for life.

Here's Yuja Wang playing the third movement Intermezzo on YouTube, with Charles Dutoit conducting.