Sinopoli & Muti at the Filarmonica della Scala - Brahms & Mozart (1998)

Johannes Brahms
Violin Concerto Op. 77 in D Major
Shlomo Mintz
Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala
Giuseppe Sinopoli
MC 9922


This rare CD presents an UN charity concert to raise funds for the children of Kosovo, at La Scala in 1998. Giving us an opportunity to hear once again the art of the unforgettable late Maestro Sinopoli, well complemented here by Mintz's violin.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Sinfonia Concertante K. 364 in E-Flat Major
Clarinet Concerto K. 622 in A Major
Francesco Manara, Danilo Rossi
Fabrizio Meloni
Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala
Riccardo Muti
MC Weekend Classica


Muti's refreshing approach to these masterpieces offers the Neapolitan Maestro a good chance to showcase some of the finest La Scala orchestra leaders (seven years before his sour break-up with Milan).


Flac & Covers

Mozart: 3 Piano Concertos K107; Symphony No 14

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

Piano Concertos K107 Nos. 1-3

Symphony No. 12 in A, K114

Malcolm Bilson, Fortepiano

Orchestra of the Old Fairfield Academy, Thomas Crawford

Music Heritage Society 513396K

For those of you familiar with Malcolm Bilson's complete recording of the Mozart Piano Concertos (with John Eliot Gardiner and the English Barorque Soloists on the DG Archiv Produktion Label,) they were not quite complete. The cycle began with his first true concerto (No. 5 in D, K175) but omitted all the pasticci concerti written before that. Mr. Bilson makes ammends by adding the the three concertos K107 based on sonatas by JC Bach thus making a true complete recording, by him, of all the piano piano concertos. As far as I know, this is the only CD ever made of these concertos played on a fortepiano (there are plenty on the harpsichord.) The CD is rounded off with the Symphony K114 which starts off this disc.

[Flac & Scans]

Mozart: Piano Concerti Nos 1-4, Pasticci / Bilson

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

Piano Concertos No.s 1-4 (K37, K39, K40 & K41)

Malcolm Bilson, Forte Piano

Orchestra of the Old Fairfield Academy, Thomas Crawford

Music Masters 01612-67095-2

For those of you familiar with Malcolm Bilson's complete recording of the Mozart Piano Concertos (with John Eliot Gardiner and the English Barorque Soloists on the DG Archiv Produktion Label,) they were not quite complete. The cycle began with his first true concerto (No. 5 in D, K175) but omitted all the pasticci concerti written before that. Mr. Bilson makes ammends by adding the four concertos (numbered 1-4) on this recording completing his canon of 27 Piano Concertos for Piano & Orchestra. More on the Concertos K107 on my next post.

[Flac & Scans]

After Baroque: Music for the Natural Trumpet

Marches, Fanfares & Divertimenti by:

L. Mozart, CPE Bach, W.A. Mozart, Ott, Gebauer, Diabelli, Starzer, R. Wagner, Neukomm, Daverne, Dvorak, Epstein & Britten

The Seattle Trumpet Consort - Original Classical OC 33001

I purchased this CD because of the inclusion of the two Divertimenti for 2 Flutes, 5 Trumpets & Drums K187 & 188 (K240b.) Yes, I know that K187 Is a compilation of movements by Starzer and Gluck arranged by Leopold Mozart in 1773, but this is the only recording on original instruments of both these works. There is plenty of music here for everybody ranging from the 18th to the 20th Centuries.

[Flac & Scans]

Mozart: The Nannerl's Notebook

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

Piano Pieces, K1-K5b, K9a, K9b & K33
Minuets, K94, K315a & K355
Suite in C, K399Giga in G, K574

Bernard Brauchli: Clavichord

This set is worthwhile just for the inclusion of the hard to find Allegro K9a and the incomplete Andante K9b. Some sites offering MP3 dowloads of this CD list track #23 as the incomplete G minor Sarabande movement of the Suite K399. This is not true as this movement is not recorded anywhere on this disc. It is mentioned in the program notes but unfortunately not recorded here.

[Flac & Scans]

Mozart: Requiem - Berliner Philharmoniker, Abbado

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Requiem
Berliner Philharmoniker, Claudio Abbado
Deutsche Grammophon 463 1812 6 GH

No review. Just music. Sorry to disappoint those who'd prefer it the other way around. Life is tough. And I'm 100% sober. Therefore life is very tough....

CPE Bach, Lebrun, Mozart: Oboe Concertos - Goodwin, Pinnock

CPE Bach, Lebrun, Mozart
Oboe Concertos
Paul Goodwin, The English Concert, Trevor Pinnock
Archiv 431 821-2

Oboe Concertos is a recording under the direction of Trevor Pinnock who leads the English Concert and the amazing soloist Paul Goodwin, Oboe on this Deutsche Grammophon GmbH recording from 1991. Being a DG recording the sound is splendid and it is like listening to the music in a concerthall live. The liner-notes have been written by Paul Goodwin. The booklet also contains photographs of the performers from the time of the recording.
Highly recommended indeed. 5/5.

Bjorn Viberg, Amazon Customer Review

Welcome to All the Pleasures - The English Concert, Pinnock

Bach, Boyce, Haydn, Händel,
Mozart, Purcell, Scarlatti, Vivaldi
Welcome to All the Pleasures
The English Concert, Trevor Pinnock
Archiv 437 175-2

I am thrilled that Archiv Produktion in Canada has assembled "Welcome To All The Pleasures", and happy that it includes so many personal favorites from my discography. This celebration of choral, keyboard and orchestral music on authentic instruments is a voyage filled with delicious musical pleasures and warm personal memories, for 1993 marks my fifteenth anniversary with Archiv Produktion, and the twentieth anniversary of my founding of The English Concert. My new assosiation with Canada's National Arts Centre Orchestra is providing every bit as adventurous and is filled with the pleasures of rich musical rewards. So, indeed, welcome to all the pleasures!

Trevor Pinnock

Trombone Concerti - Alain Trudel, Northern Sinfonia

Release Date: 06/02/1998
Label: Naxos
Catalog #: 8553831
Spars Code: DDD
Composer: Johann Georg Albrechtsberger, Georg Wagenseil, Leopold Mozart, Michael Haydn
Performer: Alain Trudel
Conductor: Alain Trudel
Orchestra/Ensemble: Northern Sinfonia

Number of Discs: 1
Recorded in: Stereo
Length: 0 Hours 53 Mins.

The only pre-modern trombone concertos are from the 18th Century, and they were written for the alto, an instrument that having something of a resurgence today. Fine alto trombone recording have been made by Alain Trudel (Naxos 553831) and the duo Otmar Gaiswinkler and Walter Voglmayr (Camerata 28030).

BBC Music (4/98, p.77) - Performance: 5 (out of 5), Sound: 5 (out of 5) - "...Alain Trudel...adopts an appropriate `style galant' for the mainly lightweight material and...makes light work of the ornamentation which is normally such a burden to trombonists in the Classical repertoire. Among brass recordings it is unusually relaxing and elegant."

R. Rockwell from Amazon.com:
This disc collects all of the instrumental(ie concerto)music that is available for trombone. Interestingly the four composers on the CDlived at about the same time and same some location in Europe. These concerti for alto trombone are certainly not masterpieces, but they are highly enjoyable and well played by Trudel and the Northern Sinfonia. I would not recommend these to belong in every collection but if you enjoy wind concerti, the Naxos prices makes it highly affordable.

Andrew W. Saul from Amazon.com:
I first heard "classical" solo trombone music while at a music conference. It surprised me (a string player) then, and it astonishes me no less with the passing of the years. Absolutely nothing less than 5 stars is appropriate for this recording. Not only is this CD brilliantly performed, the music itself is gorgeous. Lesser-known composers and an even-lesser appreciated instrument here receive the treatment they deserve. Most highly recommended.

Mozart: Concert No. 5 • Sonata • Quintet - Heifetz with Piatigorsky • Primrose

Jascha Heifetz was larger than life, but was he too big for Mozart? The stern patrician of the violin, with his intense, laser-beam intonation and diamond-hard tone, would seem ideally suited for the big romantic concertos for which he was famous, but any fears that he would be mismatched with Mozart will be allayed immediately upon hearing his serene entry in the first movement of the "Turkish" Concerto, not to mention the delicate interplay that follows, by turns witty and sensuous. For the only time in his career, Heifetz is both conductor and soloist, making this the most involving of his recordings of the work.
Unlike many virtuosos of his time, Heifetz had no qualms about appearing publicly in chamber ensembles. And, with violist William Primrose and cellist Gregor Piatigorsky, he formed a sort of permanent yet flexible supergroup that gave regular concerts in Los Angeles throughout the 1960s. These players, along with violist Virginia Majewski and legendary Hollywood session violinist Israel Baker, are heard in the G minor String Quintet, a work with intimations of the 19th century, here given a taut, urgent, almost Beethovenesque performance.

Mozart & Beethoven: Piano & Wind Quintets - André Previn & Vienna Wind Soloists

These are accomplished performances which I’m sure I would have enjoyed more if the picture of sound, as the LP presents it, had been truer to the music. For my taste, the piano is too distant and unfocused in relation to the wind, as if placed directly behind the wind line-up and well back. As a result, it often doesn't have enough presence in the play of colour, and its contributions to the discourse seem too remote.

I began with the Beethoven and never felt at ease with the balance, though by the last movement it appears to have improved—and with it the liveliness and sharpness of the ensemble playing, as one would expect. You can imagine Beethoven himself making a big effect in the forceful and virtuoso piano part, and I don‘t think he would have been delighted by the impression one gets of it here.

The wind stick together as a unit on their own. On the Nash Ensemble’s CRD record you sense that because the balance is right all the players can listen to each other more acutely and function better as a team. You notice too a better line to their performance, of the first movement especially, and a much better characterized range of dynamics. The Vienna Wind Soloists are too loud most of the time.

To me, the Nash‘s record represents chamber music playing of high class and offers a satisfying version of both pieces. The players are ideally matched and also a match for Mozart‘s and Beethoven‘s considerable demands on them as soloists. I don‘t get on so well with the Viennese wind: I dislike the oboe in the Beethoven slow movement, his low notes in particular, and in the slow movement of the Mozart I find the horn vulgar in his solo after the double-bar. Previn does well throughout, without ever sounding quite sure how he wants the main theme of the Mozart finale to go; and at this very moderate tempo Mozart‘s wonderful cadenza for all the instruments is rather a plod, when it arrives, instead of a high point. S. P.

MOZART. Piano and Wind Quintet in E flat major, K.452
1.I. Largo - Allegro moderato (11:10)
2. II. Larghetto (9:20)
3. III. Rondo: Allegro moderato (6:14)

BEETHOVEN: Piano and Wind Quintet in E flat major. Op.16
4. I. Grave - Allegro ma non troppo (13:33)
5. II. Andante cantabile (7:21)
6. III. Rondo: Allegro ma non troppo (5:43)

André Previn (p1); Vienna Wind Soloists (Gerhard Turetschek, ob, Peter Schmidt, cI; Volker Altmann, hn; Friedrich FaltI, bn)

Recorded in Schubertsalle, Vienna on April 24 & 25, 1985

Musique Sacrée - Mozart: Requiem, Gregorian Chants, Vivaldi: Stabat Mater, Beatus Vir, Gloria

I found this set in the markdown bin of a music store in 1997. I find it beautiful, peaceful, & thrilling at times. Any time I hear other recordings of the Vivaldi pieces & the Mozart Requiem they just don't seem right, as I am so used to hearing these. I can't find any information about these on the net. They are all vocal so... :) I just hope some others will love them too.