Recommendation: Classical
CDs from the Library

New Issues
Since I already have more CDs than I can consume in more than a life time, I don't buy many new CDs, but every year I buy the newest set of EMI Lugano. Martha Argerich plays some of the pieces but mostly the performances are from her motivated friends, and what a trove of treasury! This year's offerings are among the strongest ever.

Lola Bobesco is much under-rated and neglected. Grab this Bach concerti LP or CD (Talent) while you can. Sound and playing all first-class.

Along with his violin works, the Brandenburg Concertos are are my favorite Bach works. This version with Orchestra Mozart (DG) is not perfect but still very good. I have never quite taken to Abbado before, but his work now with Lucerne and Orchestra Mozart are wonderful. Available in CD or DVD.

Piano Recordings
This being Chopin's Centennial, the library is flooded by various Chopin recordings. Some of the most classy ones are by the under-rated Bella Davidovich, now re-issued by Brilliant Classics. No "spontaneous" or "impulsive" pulling and pushing for no reason, but well structured and everything sound inevitable. Great Chopin.

Not to be forgotten is the immaculate Orfeo recording of some of Beethoven's variations by Bruno Leonardo Gelber, a pianist whom I have always admired.

BBC Legend is highly reliable as a source of historic live performances. Two Gilels issues are of course wonderful. Gilels' Beethoven recordings rank among the greatest ever made. This live account of the Waldstein attains lofty heights. The other lesser known pieces are gems too. The 1984 Scarlatti and Debussy are even in marvelous sound.








Orchestral
I have not heard a better recorded or played version of Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony than Haitink's (Decca). The instruments are virtually 3 dimensional. Recorded by Colin Morfoot. Now available mid-priced coupled with the 9th.
Ashkenazy is a warm Sibelian, and this earlier account of Finlandia with the PO (later version with BSO) is a strong performance worthy of putting along side Barbirolli. Perfectly recorded by Kenneth Wilkinson. Now available only in budget 2CD sets.

Wonderful Prokofiev playing from the Russian duo. Krainev has previously appeared in HK under the auspices of the Chopin Society. What a marvelous musician! As usual, the Teldec recording is clear as day. Now available only in budget 2fers (Apex).

I actually prefer Shchedrin's arrangement of Carmen suite to Bizet's own. The Rozdhestventsky version is now on Melodiya, ugly cover and somewhat brittle sound, both inferior to the original LP! But the performance of the Bloshoi is wonderful and the coupling is a gem!

The spirited period instrument style suits Handel's music to a T. Wonderfully natural recording from Naxos. Top recommendation for this repertoire.

More Violin and Chamber
For me, the Smetana trio is the perfect ensemble for a difficult genre. Their perfect balance is at turns intimate and symphonic. A version of the great Tchaikovsky that offers more than any other version (Supraphon).

The Reger is is THE find of the year. I have heard some of these solo Reger violin works (Dorian) before, but none captured my heart like this one. Thanks to the HK library! I wish there are more recordings by this young violinist.

CDs from the Hong Kong Public Library: Listening Log (4)

CDs from the Hong Kong Public Library: Listening Log (4)

It's been frustrating that due to family affairs (renovation and moving in NYC) I have not attended even a single concert in almost 3 months (and thank you RC for your concern). Hopefully that should be rectified soon.

Fortunately there is still home listening. And some CDs I recently borrowed from the library have been exceptional.

Foremost have been 2 Mahler recordings issued by the superb RCO Live label. These Dutch recordings are always superbly recorded in DSD, by the same Polyhymnia team responsible for Pentatone etc. Even if you cannot play the SACD layer, the CD layer sounds superbly natural. Jansons' Mahler 5 is absolutely splendidly controlled, yet exciting, that is, until the last movement, which seemed willful and anti-climatic. Nonetheless, it's better than his Mahler 1 on the same label, a much blander reading. Spontaneity also characterized Haitink's Mahler 4. People who have heard this great conductor live knows his studio recordings are much more cautious. On both, the playing of the RCO is beyond imagination, I think unparalleled (even taking the VPO into account).

We all criticize record companies, yet sometimes they surprise us. Ravel cannot possibly sell very well, yet EMI recently recorded some familiar staples with their new artist, Yannick Nezet-Segun, a rising star familiar from other labels such as Pentatone. The playing of the Rotterdam PO, of which he is now music director, is exemplary. The interpretation is fresh and the sound is excellent. If you don't have much Ravel, grab this one. Bravo, EMI, for showing support for their artists (other examples include Argerich's Lugano series and their popular budget Debut series).

On a lighter note, I think current baroque music playing overall is simply divine. Even HIP, gone are the austerity, replaced by warmth and flair. This is much evident in Vivaldi playing, of which this Naive CD (part of their generally excellent Vivaldi edition) of "Il Ballo" is a superb example. Sonically spectacular too.

I have never encountered Nicolai Kapustin, a Russian composer known for his difficult "jazzy" compositions, which he himself played magnificently. Thanks to the library I was able to sample some of his unusual and worthwhile output on the rare Japanese Triton label. These works are definitely "jazzy" and should turn anyone's head.

CDs From The Hong Kong Public Library: Listening Log (3)

CDs From The Hong Kong Public Library: Listening Log (3)

(From Yuen Long)
I was pleasantly surprised to find new additions, the entire Chandos 30th Anniversary box no less. Lydia Mordkovitch played the Shostakovich Violin Concertos magnificently, and needs to yield to none. I have always loved the Scottish National Orchestra under Neeme Jarvi. Another gem is the coupling of a sparkling Shostakovich piano concerto No. 1 (soloist Dimitri Shostakovich, grandson, accompanied by Maxim Shostakovich, son) and the beautiful Chamber Symphony Op110a (conductor Yuli Turovsky). The I Musici de Montreal is fabulous as usual. In comparison, the objective Tchaikovsky 5th by Oslo PO under Mariss Jansons is very good but not quite top drawer.

Alexei Sultanov Live in Japan is a wonderfully fresh sounding recital. Too bad this pianist died young.

Not for everyone is the Schoenberg Piano Concerto played wonderfully by Mitsuko Uchida and the Cleveland Orchestra under Boulez (Philips). The solo pieces are spontaneous sounding as well.

Volume 1 of the Nielsen String Quartets (Dacapo) shows surprisingly sophisticated playing by The Young Danish Quartet. The SACD/CD is magnificent in sound. Wonderful! Now, I wonder if Volume 2 is around...

(From Tsuen Wan)
In contrast, The Grieg String Quartets played by the Raphael Quartet (Regis) pale in comparison. More enticing was the elegant Carmina Quartet's rendition of the Debussy/Ravel (Brilliant Classics). The original Denon recording is magnificent. This is a 2-CD set, coupled to the same composers' even more enigmatic Piano Trios, in somewhat rigid performances by Trio Rouvier/Kantorow/Muller (originally Erato).

Speaking about Grieg, the classic coupling of Grieg/Schumann Piano Concertos were given dynamic readings by the always wonderful Leif Ove Andsnes with the BPO under Mariss Jansons (EMI). Sound is wonderful.

Grigory Solkolov's Chopin's Sonata No. 2 and the Op 25 Etudes (Opus 111) took a little getting used to but I was a great believer by the end of my second listening. Read the Gramophone review.

CDs From The Hong Kong Public Library: Listening Log (2)

CDs From The Hong Kong Public Library: Listening Log (2)

(From Taipo)
Krystian Zimerman's Rachmaninov Piano Concerto 1+2 (DG) has garnered praise, but I find both the recording and performance poorly balanced (like his even more recent Brahms). Partnership and performance by the younger Zimerman with Boston SO/Ozawa is a lot better in Liszt's Piano Concerto 1+2 (DG). Boris Berezovsky's performances of Rachmaninov's 1+4+Paganini (Mirare) strike me as much more satisfying in performance and sound (2 of these playing this week by the HKPO). I have never heard of the Ural SO nor the conductor Dimitri Liss, but their contribution is idiomatic and first class.

Buried in the bargain 2-CD set(Capriccio) under the mundance title "Russian Violin Concertos" (filed under "RUS") are TOP performances by the seriously under-rated Bulgarian Stoika Milanova, a pupil of Oistrakh. The Prokofiev and Shostakovich concertos are all top-class. Only the Tchaikovsky is performed by Viviane Hagner. While slavic soloists rarely fail me, the rather flat Schubert CD by Russian cellist Leonid Gorokhov (AGPL) certainly was uninspiring. Partner Demidenko is rather coarse.

The library is a good starting place also to explore less known music. Julius Rontgen's 3 cello concertos (Et'cetera) are wonderfully entertaining and deserve a place in the repertorie. Many libraries have a huge series of (mostly Supraphon) Martinu, all in wonderful performances and sound. His harpsicord works (some concertante) (filed under "KNO") are curiosities but interesting.

I have never heard of Tanja Becker-Bender, but everything the reviews said of her Paganini 24 Caprices (Hyperion) is true. A wonderful CD with a fantastic cover painting (more info here). I have always liked Elizabeth Wallfisch, but in her comprehensive Locatelli "Art of the Violin" CD set (Hyperion), neither she nor the orchestra measure up to the sparkling playing of smaller offerings from the likes of Giuliano Carmignola (Sony).

(From City Hall)
On (Chandos), Valerie Polyansky has come in for a lot of bad reviews on the net, but I often find some salvation in the beautifully contoured playing of the Russian State Symphony orchestra. His Rachmaninov Symphony 2 is a bit turgid, not for those who like things to move along. Sound is somewhat murky.

(From Tsuen Wan)
Osmo Vanska's (BIS) Beethoven Symphonies 4+5 and Symphony 9 both offer wonderful playing that's full of tensile strength and rhythmic felicities. The SACD/CDs are beautiful sounding. Too bad the library does not have the rest of the cycle. BIS is offering the cycle at mid-price. I've ordered a set.

CDs From The Hong Kong Public Library: Listening Log (1)

CDs From The Hong Kong Public Library: Listening Log (1)

Note: With this post I'm creating a new series. In the past I've written more detailed "Listening Logs", but it's all too time-consuming to compose and load pics. With this new series, I shall be introducing CDs available in the HKPL libraries. I shall indicate where I have borrowed the CD, though it may be available in other branches. To save time I shall post links to pics rather than load pics of everything.

Exciting String players, mostly young
It's not easy to make a good album out of small pieces. Waxman's Carmen Fantasie opens Lara St John's Gypsy (WellTempered) (from City Hall), and it captured me immediately due to the marvelous pianism of "accompanist" Ilan Rechtman. The fiddling ain't bad either! The recording is absolutely stunning; the pizzicati just leap at you! This hugely enjoyable CD brings back memory of the wonderful Tianwa Yang's Sarasate (Naxos Volume 1; Volume 2) (available in many branches, including City Hall), all musts for violin fans. These I enjoy more than Chloe Hanslip's Bazzini (Naxos) as I find this composer a little monochromatic. It's amazing how many people only listen to the "soloist" and ignore the contribution of the accompanying musician(s). Think Heifetz: his orchestra's and conductors provide him with superb frameworks missing from much of their modern counterparts.

The library is suffused with Szymanowski CDs. Ever since I heard the magnificent (but much under-rated and neglected) Wanda Wilkomirska play the Violin Concertos (still benchmarks) I have become a fan of this composer. Ilya Kaler (Naxos) (City Hall) plays both concerti, whereas the very young and talented Nicola Benedetti (DG) (Tuen Mun) plays only the No. 1. Both CDs have excellent performances. The piano music is not to be missed either. Piotr Andreszewski's Masques and Piano Sonata 3 (Virgin) (City Hall) are spellbinding and given a superb recording.

Christian Poltera's Otmar Schoeck CD (BIS) (City Hall) shows a very fine player, and the music is rewarding. I think the library has his other BIS CDs, which I shall surely check out.

If you like baroque guitar music other than Bach (like Weiss and Pachebel etc) you might like Goran Sollscher's Eleven-String Baroque (DG) (City Hall). The sonority of the beefy instrument is interesting, but in the same repertoire I prefer the playing of lutist Hopkinson Smith (Harmonia Mundi). As for the guitar, how come few can play with the soul of Segovia?

I am not a fan of Lorin Maazel, but his VPO Mahler's 5th (Sony) (City Hall) is superb. The playing of the VPO is nonpareil; you simply hear more details. Despite occasional highlighting, sound is excellent. As you might expect, this is not a heart-on-sleeve interpretation but it's a penetrating one. Three of us listened to almost the whole thing Saturday afternoon!