£16 post free World-wide   555 sonatas 9Cds mp3 files Only £22   Benjamin: Written on Skin £16

AVAILABILITY www.buywell.com

Infinite Heartbeat Erich Wolfgang KORNGOLD (1897-1957) Garden Scene from Much Ado About Nothing Lili BOULANGER (1893-1918) Nocturne John CORIGLIANO (b 1938) Andantino from Violin Sonata Astor PIAZZOLLA (1921-1992) Milonga sin palabras Le Grand Tango Manuel de FALLA (1876-1946) Polo Asturiana and Jota from Suite Populaire Espagnole Sergei RACHMANINOV (1873-1943) Vocalise Op 34/14 TRADITIONAL Drink to me only with thine eyes arr Roger QUILTER Francis POULENC (1899-1963) Intermezzo from Violin Sonata Stacy GARROP (b 1970) Lotsachotomy from Neurotichotomy Matthew HINDSON (b 1968) Little Chrissietina’a Magic Fantasy Stuart GREENBAUM (b 1966) The Infinite Heart from Violin Sonata Gordon KERRY (b 1961) Dream Miki Tsunoda (violin) Caroline Almonte (piano) Recorded Iwaki Auditorium of the ABC Southbank Centre, Melbourne 2001-2003 ABC 476 097-2 [63.16]

Wide-ranging and somewhat exploratory this is a disc that lives up to its annotator’s claim that it’s a twentieth century travelogue. Of course the corollary is you never stay in one place very long and the same is true of the sonatas that the duo espouse, which are represented by isolated movements (Poulenc, Corigliano, Greenbaum and Garrop). So what might seem a tantalising prospect in the brochure, the equivalent of a three-week holiday in the South Seas, turns out to be the equivalent of island hopping. Another day, another nationality. Which is not to find fault with the performers or their ambition. But the programme is very bitty and I think their enthusiasms would have been better served – and their commitment to the repertoire better supported – by a more focused anthology than we have here. Korngold’s Garden Scene from Much Ado About Nothing has always had its stellar adherents but Gil Shaham has led the field on disc; I like Tsunoda’s rather husky tone but one shift seems to cause her a mite of difficulty, even though she catches well the pensive moments as well as the gloriously convulsive ones. Lili Boulanger’s Nocturne shows that she learned as much from Debussy as she did from Fauré. I’m afraid, though, that we have another duo that feels the need to give us some Piazzolla; I like Milonga sin palabras, it’s lyrical and passionate but Le Grand Tango gives fatuousness a bad name. Tsunoda’s Jota (they only play three of the Suite Populaire Espagnole) is not over bowed, and not abrasive but her rubati in Rachmaninov’s Vocalise are a little precious. She strays into Marjorie Hayward territory in the geographical visit to Blighty, Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes, in the arrangement by Roger Quilter but this is very light fare indeed when judged against Poulenc’s desperate Sonata and Corigliano’s clear eyed rhythmic drive in his. Then there are the younger composers. Garrop’s isolated movement is a scurrying moto perpetuo type affair with tone row emphases and a tango let loose on the feast; Hindson drives motorically, abrasive "death metal" influences (man, I’m too old for death metal, whatever it is) and Greenbaum gives us stillness, albeit with a certain restless feel to it. I liked Gordon Kerry’s Dream and its evocation of things Eastern. I’d like to hear more of him. The notes by Anna Goldsworthy are invigorating and full and I liked them. In truth I’ve no idea at whom this disc is aimed but in the spirit of its compilation I hope its appeal will be geographically widespread. Jonathan Woolf     Gerard Hoffnung CDs Advertising on Musicweb Donate and get a free CD New Releases   Musicweb sells the following labels Acte Préalable Arcodiva Avie British Music Soc. CDAccord Hallé Hortus Lyrita Nimbus Northern Flowers Redcliffe Sheva Tactus Talent Toccata Classics Follow us on Twitter Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter

Return to Index

Reviews from previous months Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.