RECORDING OF THE MONTH RECORDING OF THE MONTH BARGAIN OF THE MONTH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS A London Symphony Oboe Concerto £11 post free World-wide RACHMANINOV Elegy, Preludes, Piano concerto 3 £12 post free World-wide CHAUSSON, DEBUSSY RACHMANINOV TRios 2CDs £16 post free World-wide

AVAILABILITY Proprius

Exil. Home-elsewhere. Arvo PÄRT (b1935) For Alina Fryderyk CHOPIN (1810-1849) Mazurka in A minor Mazurka in A flat major Nocturne in C sharp minor Barcarolle Béla BARTÓK (1881-1945) Four Dirges Sergei RACHMANINOV (1873-1943) Elegy Melody Paul HINDEMITH (1895-1953) From Ludus Tonalis Interludium Vivace, Interludium Moderato, Fuga Sextet in E flat and Interludium Valse John FIELD (1782-1837) Nocturne in C minor Bohuslav MARTINŮ (1890-1959) Polka in A Etude in F Carl Jonas Love ALMQVIST (1793-1886) There’s a scent in Sätra Forest Lepo SUMERA (b1950) Piano piece from 1981 Käbi Laretei (piano) Recorded in the Hall of the Royal Academy of Music, Stockholm, May 1994 PROPRIUS PRCD 9113 [73.09]

Käbi Laretei’s discs are themed. I won’t reprise the brief biography of the Tallinn-born ex-wife of Ingmar Bergman that I wrote in my review of another of her Proprius discs. This one, dating from 1994, a good seventeen years after the earlier record, takes as its point of departure, as it were, exile. As she is an exile, Swedish resident but having escaped from Estonia during the Second World War, so were the composers represented here. Some of the upheavals were more or less traumatic and some were, like Field’s perhaps not quite an exile but the point is made. It’s a good opportunity to embrace a wide range of composers and to construct a balanced and imaginative programme. The best things here are the Hindemith, Bartók and the two pieces by Almqvist and Sumera. Elsewhere I find the faults that rather beset that earlier disc reappear. She certainly has a feel for Rachmaninov and the concentration and precision for Hindemith, whose pieces from Ludus Tonalis are miniatures that bring out the very best in her imagination and precision. She seems to me to be most comfortable in music that is not overtly romantic – the voicings in the Chopin C sharp Nocturne are very confused – but rather in music that relies on compression or in atmospheric music. I especially admired the elliptical otherness she finds in the Almqvist and the insistence and treble glint of the recent-ish Sumera piece. The notes are her own and the sound, both of the piano and recording, is a vast improvement on the earlier disc. Jonathan Woolf     Advertising Rates Visitor stats MusicWeb International has over 40,000 Classical CD reviews on offer Discs received Having a problem Donating? Gerard Hoffnung Concerts & The Bricklayer Story MusicWeb can now offer you discs from the following catalogues: Prices include postage There will be NO VAT Rises [Acte Préalable £13.50] [Arcodiva £12.00] [Avie from £6.25] [British Music Society £12.00] [CDACCORD from £13.50 ] [ClassicO £12.50] [Hallé from £11] [Heritage £10] [Hortus £14.99 ] [Lyrita ONLY £11.75 ] [Nimbus Special prices] [Northern Flowers £13.50] [REDCLIFFE £11 ] [Sheva £11] [Tactus £11.50 ] [Talent from £12.00 ] [Toccata Classics £10.50 ] Musicweb Special Offers Monthly Best Buys   New Releases New Releases   MusicWeb sells the Polish catalogue CDAccord £10.50 post free W-W MusicWeb sells the Arcodiva catalogue £12.00 post free W-W £11.75 post-free world- wide     Google Ads - for information about privacy matters, click here.  Amazon Musicweb International is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com

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.