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  January 2005


DAILY CD REVIEWS



Hoffnung Music Festivals 1956,58,61
£17 Post-free world-wide
This is a must for all Hoffnung enthusiasts.
Purchase here    see review

Hoffnung - A Last Encore
On 2 CDs lasting 1 hour 45min, this contains all the recordings of Hoffnung preserved in the BBC archives. They include the famous and hilariously funny Bricklayer story. £14 post free world-wide Purchase

 

SALE! In order to raise funds to support MusicWeb we have a large number of used CDs we are offering for sale to the highest bidder link New discs are added as they become available.

NEW and RECENT ARTICLES

 

'Crisis' in Contemporary Music? What Crisis? THE HEART OF THE MATTER by David F Golightly

Respighi’s Sunken Bell - (La Campana sommersa) by Ian Lace

On the Humanity of Music and Musicians: the new unacknowledged legislators by Marc Bridle

MusicWeb Reviewer’s Log: January 2005 Reviewer: Patrick C Waller

MusicWeb Reviewer’s Log: October-December 2004 Reviewer: Patrick C Waller

Recent live opera and concerts on Seen and Heard
Ben Heppner in recital in San Francisco, Tosca from Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm, Don Giovanni from Opera North, Das Rheingold from Covent Garden, Christoph Eschenbach in Mahler's Ninth from Philadelphia and a weekend of music devoted to James MacMillan in London.


MusicWeb recommended recordings 2004


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Recordings of the Month Bargains of the Month


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BOOK REVIEWS

Alberich and Friends by Ian Runcie Published by Trafford, 2004. 145 pages; Perfect bound; catalogue #04-0456; ISBN 1-4120-2628-8 [JL]

Ian Runcie tells the story of the Ring in short novel format, focusing on the main characters in a Jungian interpretation. ... see Full Review

Louis ANDRIESSEN: De Staat Robert Adlington 2004 159 pp. CD recording included ASHGATE PUBLISHING LTD ISBN 0 7546 0925 1

Uncommon lucidity and perception ... a revelatory series ... an innovative approach which treats its readers and listeners with respect ... see Full Review

The Cambridge Companion to Rossini Edited by Emanuele Senici Cambridge University Press 2004 softback, 264pp ISBN 0-521-00195-1 Price: £17:99/$23.99 [IL]

An intensive, yet readable study revealing many facets of Rossini’s art. ... see Full Review



RECORDINGS OF THE MONTH

 

RECORDING OF THE MONTH Ludwig van BEETHOVEN (1770-1827) Piano Concerto no.2 in B flat op.19 [28:11], Piano Concerto no.3 in c op.37 [35:43] Martha Argerich (piano) Mahler Chamber Orchestra/Claudio Abbado Recorded live at the Teatro Communale di Ferrara, 2/2000 (no.2), 2/2004 (no.3) DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 00289 477 5026 [64:00] [CH]

A CD which shows that there can be a point in recording these repertoire works again; surely one of the Beethoven discs of the 21st century which will still be listened to in the 22nd. ... see Full Review

RECORDING OF THE MONTH Samuel COLERIDGE-TAYLOR (1875–1912) Violin Concerto in G minor Op. 80 (1912) [31'55] (1 Allegro maestoso — Vivace — Allegro molto [11'39] 2 Andante semplice — Andantino [8'28] 3 Allegro molto — Moderato [11'41]) Arthur SOMERVELL (1863–1937) Violin Concerto in G minor (1930) [32'59] (First Recording) (1 Allegro moderato e con grazia [18'21] 2 Adagio [6'44] 3 Allegro giocoso [7'47]) Anthony Marwood (violin) BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra/Martyn Brabbins rec. 24-25 Feb 2004, Greyfriars Church, Edinburgh. DDD The Romantic Violin Concerto – 5 HYPERION CDA67420 [65:03] [RB]

Make no mistake the Coleridge-Taylor is a vivacious and captivating work which I guarantee that you will come to love. The Somervell will instantly appeal to all lovers of the Brahms and of the British pastoral idyll filtered through the German romantic idiom ... see Full Review

 

RECORDING OF THE MONTH Olivier MESSIAEN (1908-1992) Turangalîla Symphony (1946-8) [76:59] Yvonne Loriod (piano); Jeanne Loriod (ondes martenot); Toronto Symphony Orchestra/Seiji Ozawa Recorded December 1967 ADD BMG RCA RED SEAL CLASSIC LIBRARY 82876 59418 2 [76:59] [JQ]

Right now I can’t think of a better way to experience this work than through this full-blooded yet sensitive reading ... see Full Review

RECORDING OF THE MONTH Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791) Piano Concerto no.17 in G major K 453 Piano Concerto no. 21 in C major K467 Ewa Pobłocka (piano) Leopoldinum (Wrocław Chamber Orchestra)/Jan Stanieda rec. 29-30 April 1995, Bydgoszcz Philharmonic Concert Hall, Poland. DDD CD ACCORD ACD 093-2 [56:22] [GPJ]

These performances made me aware that in Mozart’s concertos we have some of the greatest treasures, not just of music, but of the whole of Western civilisation. ... see Full Review

RECORDING OF THE MONTH We Want The Light With Vladimir Ashkenazy, Daniel Barenboim, Evgeny Kissin, Zubin Mehta, Itzhak Perlman, and Pinchas Zuckerman. the Gürzenich Orchestra of Cologne, the Cologne Opera Chorus, the Cologne Cathedral Children's Choir plus three camp survivors: Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, Jacques Stroumsa and Alice Sommer Herz and others. Directed and written by Christopher Nupen. All regions DVD 2004 Allegro Films/ Christopher Nupen Films BBC/OPUS ARTE OA CN0909 D [330:00] [AO]

The interviews with musicians who survived the concentration camps are remarkable. They support the view that music resonates with something fundamental in the human soul, and cannot, ultimately, be hijacked for evil purposes ... see Full Review



BARGAIN OF THE MONTH

 

 

BARGAIN OF THE MONTH The Great Composers Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750) CD1: Brandenburg Concerto No. 4, BWV1049 [15.13] Consort of London/Robert Haydon Clark Jesu meine Freude, from Cantata No. 147 [3.11] Holland Boys’ Choir, Netherlands Bach Collegium/Pieter Jan Leusink Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV656 [8.54] Hans Fagius (organ) Orchestral Suite No. 3, BWV 1068 [21.35] Consort of London/Robert Haydon Clark Motet: Lobet den Herrn, BWV230 [6.13] Ensemble Vocal de Lausanne/Michel Corboz Italian Concerto: Allegro, BWV971 [4.08] Pieter Jan Belder (harpsichord) Schlummet Ein: bass aria from Cantata No. 82 [9.24] Bas Ramselaar (bass), Netherlands Bach Collegium/Pieter Jan Leusink CD2: Violin Concerto in E major, BWV1042 [17.19] Emma Verhey (violin), Camerata Antonio Lucio Siciliano, from Flute Sonata in E flat, BWV1032 [2.12] Stephen Preston (flute), Trevor Pinnock (harpsichord) St Matthew Passion: Opening Chorus [6.54] Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, Brandenburg Consort/Stephen Cleobury Concert for oboe d’amore in A major, BWV1055 Rob Visser, Amsterdam Bach Soloists Eine Feste Burg: opening chorus from Cantata No. 80 [5.18] Holland Boys’ Choir, Netherlands Bach Collegium/Pieter Jan Leusink Preludio: Partita for solo violin in E major, BWV1006 Mark Lubotsky Aus Liebe: soprano aria from St Matthew Passion [4.38] Emma Kirkby, Brandenburg Consort, Stephen Cleobury Badinerie: Orchestral Suite No. 2, BWV1067 [1.21] Consort of London, Robert Haydon Clark Bourrée: Lute Suite in E minor, BWV996 [1.26] Bist du bei Mir, BWV508 [2.40] Johannette Zomer (mezzo soprano), Pieter Jan Belder (harpsichord) Prelude: English Suite in E minor, BWV810 Bob van Asperen (harpsichord) Largo: Concerto in D minor for 2 violins, BWV1043 Darius Polack, Kamil Drzygula (violins), Lodz Chamber Orchestra, Zdislav Szostak No recording information listed DVD: The Great Composers: Johann Sebastian Bach Directed by Kriss Russmann BRILLIANT CLASSICS 92416 [2 CDs: 67.51 + 70.23; DVD: 58.00] [TB]

These discs will give pleasure and the sequence works satisfactorily enough. But then Bach is the most indestructible of composers. ... see Full Review

BARGAIN OF THE MONTH Benjamin BRITTEN (1913-76) Symphony for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 68 (1963) Suite from Death in Venice, Op. 88, arr. Steuart Bedford (1973) Rafael Wallfisch (cello) English Chamber Orchestra/Steuart Bedford recorded in St Barnabas Church, Finchley, London, 26 March 1984, and All Saints’ Church, Tooting, London, 27 November 1984 CHANDOS 10274 X [61'05"] [PL]

In a marketplace teeming with good discs of Britten’s music, positively none is better than this. ... see Full Review

Benjamin BRITTEN BARGAIN OF THE MONTH (1913-1976) Canticle I, op.40 – My Beloved is Mine [7:11] Canticle II, Op.51 – Abraham and Isaac [16:10] The Heart of the Matter (rev. Peter Pears, 1983) [24:56] Canticle III, Op.55 – Still Falls the Rain [11:31] Canticle IV, Op.86 – Journey of the Magi [10:50] Canticle V, Op. 89 – The Death of Saint Narcissus Philip Langridge (tenor), Jean Rigby (contralto), Gerald Finley (baritone), Derek Lee Ragin (counter-tenor), Dame Judi Dench (narrator), Steuart Bedford (piano), Frank Lloyd (horn), Osian Ellis (harp) Recorded at All Hallows, Gospel Oak, London, on 19-20, 23-24 March 1996. Narrations recorded at Floating Earth, on May 16th 1996 NAXOS THE ENGLISH SONG SERIES 8.557202 [66:47] [GPJ]

This is a very fine recording of some of the most exquisite vocal music of the past century, and enshrines the work of so many fine artists. Impossible to recommend it too highly. ... see Full Review


 

Detailed listing (last two days)]
[Part 1 New]  [Part 2 A-B] [Part 3 C-L]
[Part 4 M-R]  [Part 5 S-Z]
[Part 6 Misc A-L]  [Part 7 Misc M-Z]




 
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