Cheltenham Chamber

BBC Music magazine free cover disc of chamber items played by Radio 3 New Generation Artists past and present. Live performances from Cheltenham Festival.

Schumann piano trio; Veronika Eberle violin, Nicolas Altstaedt cello, Francesco Piemontesi piano.

Weber clarinet quintet;  Annelien Van Wauwe clarinet, Quatuor  Van Kuijk

Old Testament Angst

Mendelssohn Elias ( Elijah )

Performers : Akademie fur Alte Musik Berlin, RIAS Kammerchor, conducted by Hans-Christoph Rademann. Marlis Petersen soprano, Lioba Braun mezzo, Maximilian Schmitt tenor, Thmoas Oliemans baritone.

Light period informed performance rather than heavy Victorian mode.

Completing A Prokofiev Set

Prokofiev piano sonatas nos 1 - 5.

Performer Peter Donohoe piano.

Completing my collection of all Prokofiev piano sonatas with only number two duplicated. This disc might not be an absolute library choice but is an excellent performance.

Carl And Dmitri For A Birthday

BBC Music magazine cover disc. I put these to one side if there is duplicate repertoire and I thought that was going to be the case here when it was highlighted that it would feature Nielsen's 4th symphony, The Inextinguishable. However, on arrival it also contains a performance of Shostakovich's 9th symphony which is one of the few that I yet to have a recording of.

The reason for the disc is to celebrate the 70th birthday of Sir Mark Elder who is conducting the Halle Orchestra.

A Little Night Music

Chopin : The Nocturnes.

Performer : Maria Joao Pires, piano.

All 21 nocturnes on two CD set in exemplary performances.

Sound Of The Czech Countryside

Martinu Cantatas.

Performers : Prague Philharmonic Choir, conducted by Lukas Vasilek.

Four secular cantatas, settings of poems by Miloslav Bures on traditional folk themes. Chamber ensemble accompaniment and soloists taken from the choir.

Revival Of Interest In Important Influence

Adolph von Henselt piano works

Performer : Daniel Grimwood piano

Revival of interest in once leading piano composer / performer of German heritage but inspiration of the Russian piano school. Grimwood plays a period piano.

Bang The Drums For Folk Style

Bartok piano music, volume 3

Cedric Tiberghien piano. Includes sonata for two pianos and percussion which also has Francois-Frederic Guy piano and Colin Currie and Sam Walton percussion.

Solo piano pieces mainly folk flavoured on this volume. Excellent series by Tiberghien, I have yet to purchase volume two.

Russian School But Thoroughly Individual

Prokofiev piano sonatas nos 2,6 and 8.

Performer : Alexander Melnikov ; piano.

Part of a process of mopping up at least one recording of each Prokofiev sonata. Melnikov will eventually record all and it should be an exceptional cycle but others can fill in meantime too.

Pianistic Pictures

Musorgsky, Pictures From An Exhibition. Prokofiev, Visions Fugitives and Five Sarcasms.

Performer : Steven Osborne, piano.

Finally adding the original piano version of Pictures to my disc  of ravel's orchestration. And the Prokofiev miniatures are far from merely being make weights.

More Neglected Repertoire

Alfredo Casella Symphony No 2 and Scarlattiana.

Performers : BBC Philharmonic conducted by Gianandrea Noseda, Martin Roscoe piano in Scarlattiana.

20th century Italian composer, Paris educated. Russian and Germanic influences in the symphony and neo-classical take on Scarlatti.

Rare and Worthwhile Repertoire

The Piano Music of Ralph Vaughan Williams.

Performers : Mark Bebbington solo piano; Mark Bebbington and Rebecca Omordia two pianos and piano duet.

Not known for his piano output but this worthwhile release of miniatures and transcriptions and the premiere recording of the substantial Introduction and Fugue for Two Pianos shows that RVW was not a stranger to the instrument and could write idiosyncratically for it.

Love That First Quartet

Tchaikovsky string quartets nos 1 and 3.

Performers : The Heath Quartet

Reviews range from extreme enthusiasm to disappointment. I am in the enthusiastic camp. And string quartet no 1 is a particular favourite.

Classically 18th Century

BBC Music free cover disc. Haydn symphonies nos 44 & 100 plus Mozart symphony no 51.

Performers : BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra conducted by Nicholas McGegan ( 100 ) and Donald Runnicles ( 44 and Mozart )

No 44 the Trauer or Mourning symphony, though not very downbeat. No 100 a London symphony, the Military.

Mozart no 51 a pastiche symphony cobbled together from pre-existing material.

Mozart In The Middle

Mozart piano concertos nos 14, 26, 17, 21

Performers : Maria Joao Pires piano, Wiener Philharmoniker ( nos 14 and 26 ) The Chamber Orchestra of Europe ( nos 17 and 21 ) both conducted by Claudio Abbado.

Peerless performances finding a middle ground between old school and HIPP.

Hybrid Dramatic Symphony

Berlioz : Romeo et Juliette

Performers : London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Valery Gergiev. Olga Borodina mezzo, Kenneth Tarver tenor, Evgeny Nikitin bass baritone, Guildhall School Singers and London Symphony Chorus directed by Simon Halsey.

One of three praised versions of this work that were released almost simultaneously and this rated slightly the least of the three. But it was also the cheapest ! And certainly good enough for me.

Overlooked Major Figure

Busoni, Concerto for piano and orchestra with male chorus.

Performers : Garrick Ohlsson, piano.  The Cleveland Orchestra and Chorus, conducted by Christoph von Dohnanyi, chorus master Robert Page.

Mammoth concerto, unique in the repertoire with use of chorus, which is probably the main reason it is so rarely performed.

Karbardinian Themes

Prokofiev string quartets nos 1 & 2, sonata for two violins.

Performers : Pavel Haas Quartet

Spiky first quartet, folk inflected second. Sonata rarity.

Closer To Bach Than Brahms

Mendelssohn : Paulus, oratorio

Performers : La Chapelle royale, Collegium Vocale, Orchestre des Champs-Elysees. Conductor Philippe Herreweghe.

Melanie Diener soprano, Annette Markert mezzo, James Taylor tenor, Matthias Goerne baritone.

A sprightly, light Bachian performance.

Ageing Americans

BBC Music free cover disc.

Philip Glass Symphony No 10

Performers : Aurora Orchestra conducted by Nicholas Collon

John Adams The Dharma at Big Sur

Performers : Chloe Hanslip electric violin, BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Eric Stern

Psychedelic electric violin concerto by Adams. Usual tropes from Glass.