Various Composers - Clarinet Fantasia [Martin/Negrin] 

I love these 'compilation' albums, full of a bunch of Clarinet and Piano works, with a very varied display of music, this one doesn't particularly have a theme [like French Music, for instance], it's very loosely based around the idea of 'fantasia', some longer works, some shorter, and the odd Clarinet Sonata, but it's a good mix of the well known and the unknown, all recorded in glorious SACD hybrid mutichannel sound!.

Maximiliano Martin is a Spanish Clarinetist, not sure how old he is, but he looks to be in the younger generation age bracket, this recital was recorded in 2004, the booklet and back tray insert photographs are by John Haxby, excellently done, a lovely front cover shot of Maximiliano Martin on the floor, with the photographer on a higher level, but it's those gorgeous browns and oranges that make the picture, nice lighting and shadows too, very well done from Linn Records.

Well i must admit, there's quite a number of works i'm not familiar with on this disc, and i was excited by the Lutoslawski work at the beginning, very nice indeed, i've heard it before, but this is the first time i've really listened to it, five short pieces [roughly lasting 10 minutes], with three short fast pieces in 1, 3 & 5, with two longer slow pieces sandwiched inbetween as 2 & 4, nicely short and to the point.

But on this listen i would have to plump for Poulenc's Clarinet Sonata as the work that moved me the most, especially the reflective slow middle movement Romanza, a great mention should be made of the recording, perfectly caught, you can hear 'breathy' things going on, here's some of the highlights,

0:00 - the start is wonderful, out of the mist of silence the clarinet swirls!, a lovely lovely touch.

0:44 - the main tune, a sad lament, and yet endearing too, this comes back roughly every minute, a lovely reprise each time.

1:15 & 1:21 - a couple of bubbly trills going up into the treble, yes the clarinet is so bubbly!.

2:42 - a nice high treble moment with the clarinet, which turns into an 'out of tune' squeal.

3:48 - some deep bass notes, ending with a deep bubbly trill.

4:27 - and finally a nice loud wail!, really showing what the clarinet can do.

the clarinet is such a wonderful instrument, i'm even thinking about taking it up myself, and the reflective and introspective Poulenc Sonata is great inspiration.

Here's Ben Redwine playing the middle movement of the Poulenc Clarinet Sonata on YouTube.

Brahms - Paganini Variations [Kissin] 

Brahms features really highly in my Blog, this year there's 5 entries, that's 12-13% of my Blog!, last year there were 36, that's 10% as well, that's a lot of Brahms, not sure why he dominates over many others, i love Schubert even more, but he features less?, and Chopin is just as good, but he features only a fifth as much!, my Blog churns up crazy statistics.

Evgeny Kissin is a Russian Pianist, now 39 years old, he recorded this disc in 1997, the booklet front cover shot [by Sergey Bermeniev], is a very close up shot of Kissin in soft black and white, in a thoughtful pose, with his name in large letters, and the Composers / works in tiny letters, the RCA seal adds a splash of colour.

There is so much to enjoy in this work, in essence it's made up of 30 tracks [however kissin doesn't repeat the theme in the Second Book], so 29 very short pieces, representing almost every conceivable possibility with the chosen theme, the Variations that excited me the most were 1, 4, 9, 11-12 & 14 from the First Book, and 4 & 12 from the Second Book, very much in the same vein as the Claudio Arrau version i played last year [11th December 2010], the most magical moment is towards the end of the First Book, with Variations 11 & 12 the highlight, the recording is lovely, with an excellent amount of treble / bass contrast, though favouring the treble slightly, which is where the recording sounds gorgeous.

Variation 11 - What lovely chimes! [0:00-0:15], sounds like a huge musical box, the background chimes in the left hand are a delight under Kissin [0:16+], i just love Composers who aren't afraid to use the high treble to wonderful effect, and here we have Brahms creating a delicate study of the upper echelons of the keyboard.

Variation 12 - Following on straight after is another similar Variation, using the piano to chime like tinkling bells, the melody is in the left hand to start with [0:00-0:13], with the treble right as accompaniment, but then they swap places [0:13-0:26], and then they revert back again [0:26+], but soon the switches become blurred, and like two voices trying to be heard, both have melodies, one high / treble, the other low / bass-ish, i think the treble wins in the end, a beautiful set of 'twin' Variations.

Here's Yuja Wang playing the First Book on YouTube, the Eleventh Variation is at [6:47], and the Twelfth at [8:02].

Schubert - Piano Sonata 20 [Uchida] 

And more Schubert!, after Beethoven it's Schubert that i feel is the next greatest Composer, his last 3 Piano Sonatas were not accepted when they first appeared, but slowly have seeped into the conciousness of the world as masterpieces, and Uchida is a great interpreter.

Mitsuko Uchida is of course Japanese, born in 1948, now 62 years old, she recorded this disc in 1997, she has recorded a cycle of the late works of Schubert, and this cycle has some nice booklet cover photo's, this is one of the best [by Walter Schels], a head and shoulders black and white side profile shot, with a dark background highlighting the face, and all that mass of curls as a 'wallpaper' backdrop for the lettering!, it's good to have identical pics of Uchida front and back, apart from the back photo being larger than the front, very nice.

The first movement is the one that i found so compelling, the recording has a very good piano sound, a little bit reverberant, but nicely caught, i like Philips way with piano recordings, again i notice the staccato camp that Uchida belongs to, but she isn't excessive, 

Here's Alfred Brendel playing the first movement on YouTube.

Schubert - 4 Impromptus D899 [Schiff] 

It seems a great shame that somehow room wasn't found for the complete 8 Impromptus on these discs, but it's wonderful to have four from Schiff, these are the companion pieces to the other 4 Impromtus i reviewed on another disc last year [10th May 2010], again it's a shame that i can't fuse them together, but playing them today makes me realize how very sublime and lyrically perfect these piano pieces are.

Andras Schiff is Hungarian, born in 1953, he recorded these Impromptus in 1990, the booklet cover photograph is of a wood, a clever picture of trunks of slim trees, very 'repetitive', and a lonely wilderness feeling.

Schubert's 8 Impromptus are my most favourite work of all time, the Alfred Brendel disc of these works resides at No1 in my all time list, here we have 4 of them from Andras Schiff, and as always, i marvel at the perfectness of each one, but one always stands out above the others, and this time it was the third, it's in G Flat Major, a beautiful and yet remotely used key with six flats, it must be hard to play, but yet so easy on the ear, and 'simple' to listen to, Schiff's recording sounds 'close', a bit boxy, he plays what i assume is a Beckstein piano, not as warm as a Steinway, which might go some way to explain the end product of the recording soundwise.

The third Impromptu of the set is extremely lyrical, it has a breathtaking rippling undercurrent played by the thumb and index finger of the right hand, and the main melody played by the little finger and the ring finger of the same hand, it goes up a little notch in intensity at [0:29], and especially at [0:55], where the rippling effect gets louder, and the left hand reaches deep into the bass for a dark and growling ripple [1:03], but it's right after where the two little right fingers play louder and intense, real depth here, and to balance things there's a wonderful resolution at [1:46], the piano plays softer and more soothing, and especially at [2:07], where there's such a consoling tone, truly beautiful, only for the louder intenseness to start all over again [2:17], and nice sweet treble notes too [2:48], the reprise of the opening is a magical moment [3:14], made all the more poignant from all that's gone before, the ending isn't sweet bliss, rather the left hand slowly dies into the bass, with a growling ripple which slows and quietens down to silence, a lovely ending, what a masterpiece, Schubert's a genius if he only wrote this one piece.

Here's Alfred Brendel playing the Third Impromptu on YouTube.

Tchaikovsky - Symphony 6 [Litton-Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra] 

Another wonderful playing experience while walking to Church, this is considered Litton's crowning achievement in his Tchaikovsky Symphony cycle, and today this just seemed an extra special experience in listening to this work again, nearly two months ago i listened to Pletnev conduct the work [20th December 2010], and this time i got more out of the Symphony, Litton seems to give more colours, the individual instruments sing out better, or was i just more in the mood and ready to channel it better?.

Andrew Litton is American, born in 1959, he is now 51 years old, and he made this recording in 1990, this comes from a re-issue of the original recording, on the Virgin Classics Ultraviolet series, black and white photos, some of them are a bit strange, but others are really creative, this one [by Caroline Molloy] shows a deserted room [possibly an old hospital], with a discarded bedspread, like i say, some of the pictures don't seem to have any bearing to the music on the disc, unless of course you feel that this work is somehow Tchaikovsky's 'Requiem', for he was dead nine days after its premiere!, and maybe the bed represents his deathbed, and the defunct accommodation his expiring!, or something like that.

On this listen it was the first movement that really hit me hard, it certainly had some really thrilling memorable moments, a great experience, i find it was the colours of the woodwinds and brass that really help it to stand out, and it has great architecture and power, it's a mamoth movement of nearly 20 minutes, and in the tragic and dark key of B Minor [the same as Schubert's Symphony 8], and it shares that 'sad yet uplifting' vibe too, 

Here's Charles Dutoit conducting the first movement on YouTube.

Mendelssohn - Violin Concerto [Znaider/ Mehta-The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra] 

Znaider again!, only two days ago i spoke about his Brahms Chamber Music, for me he's a Violinist to truly watch out for, a couple more decades and he could be firmly rooted as one of the ten best Violinists in the world, he has re-learnt and improved his technique immensely.

Nikolaj Znaider is Danish, and is now 35 today, this disc was recorded in 2005, the booklet cover [by George Lange] is excellent, a nice close-up picture of Znaider with his violin, with back lighting bounced onto the right side of his face. 

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Here's on Shlomo Mintz playing the first movement on YouTube.