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2022-09-16 04:00:00
Mozart: Piano Concertos (Melvyn Tan, Roger Norrington & Nicholas McGegan)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart:1.01 - 1.03 Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major, K.488 [24'35]1.04 - 1.06 Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K.466 [29'17]2.01 - 2.03 Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K.491 [28'01]2.04 - 2.06 Piano Concerto No. 25 in C Major, K.503 [30'19]Melvyn Tan- fortepiano, London Classical Players conducted by Roger NorringtonVirgin Veritas 5623432 [recorded 1990-91 for EMI Reflexe; this release 2004][digital download; flacs, cover and inlay scans - no booklet]Recording venue: Abbey Road No.1 Studio, LondonRecording engineer: Mike Clements; Producer: David R. Murray01 - 03 Piano Concerto No. 19 in F major, K.459 [26'02]04 - 06 Piano Concerto No. 18 B-flat major, K.459 [28'05]Melvyn Tan- fortepiano, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra conducted by Nicholas McGeganHarmonia Mundi HMX3957138 [Recorded February & March 1995; this release 2001][digital download; flacs, cover and inlay scans - no booklet]Recording venue: Walnut Creek Regional Center for the Arts, California, USARecording engineer: Brad Michel; Producer: […]
2022-06-27 05:07:00
Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 “Pastoral” (SACD review)
[…] of them felt was too restrictive. What’s more, just as many musical scholars believed (and some still believe) that Beethoven’s metronome may have been faulty because the speeds are so much more uniformly fast that most conductors were used to. Whatever, with the popular introduction of historically informed performance practice (HIP) and the period-instrument era of the mid-twentieth century, the adoption of Beethoven’s own tempo markings became more widespread. Ensembles like Roger Norrington and the London Classical Players, John Eliot Gardiner and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, and Jordi Savall and Le Concert des Nations among others helped put Beethoven’s own tempo markings back on the map. Still, these were period-instrument bands, and Honeck leads a modern-instrument one. Would he follow traditional big-orchestral practice or adopt Beethovent’s markings? It appears Honeck chose Beethoven. His timings for each of the Sixth Symphony’s movements are consistently as fast or even faster than Norrington, […]
2022-06-01 16:58:11
Real music-making of the highest standards: the Swiss youth orchestra "il mosaico" is caught on tour in Italy by composer Edward Lambert
[…] with players as young as ten, there were no lapses of intonation here, phrasing was well articulated and dynamic contrasts were strong, often powerful. The first violin section, though small in number, were perfectly formed. As with some of the UK’s county youth orchestras, the organisation also boasts four training orchestras and the performers’ cumulative experience was evident. Their musical director is Hermann Ostendarp, a violinist and one time leader of the Taverner Players and London Classical Players; and this showed, for the string coaching was evidently in professional hands. The wind, perhaps because of the seating layout and the auditorium’s acoustics, were less detailed but sounded equally assured. Real music-making of the highest standards was to be had in Brahms’ Second Piano Concerto which followed, with the young Liu Pinxin as the formidable soloist. This most symphonic of all concertos drew the best out of this talented group and […]
2022-04-11 04:45:00
Beethoven Revolution: Symphonies Nos. 6-9 (SACD review)
[…] though always well researched and enlightened, has also been unfailingly joyful and robust. Although his performances have not always sounded the most refined, they have always been delightful and heartfelt. And so it is with his Beethoven.Of course, Savall isn’t the first one to record all of the Beethoven symphonies using period instruments, historically informed performance practices, accurately sized ensembles, technically correct bowing, and the composer’s own tempo markings. You’ll remember, Roger Norrington and his London Classical Players were among the first to attempt this feat back in the 1980’s. But not all HIP conductors succeed in making the music more enjoyable than those employing traditional interpretations using modern orchestras. Take, for instance, the matter of tempos. When Beethoven got older he embraced the newly patented metronome with a passion, perhaps to ensure that later generations would play his music the way he intended. Whatever, later generations were divided over […]