May 23, 2011

The Italian pianist and composer Roberto Russo graduated summa cum laude from the Music Conservatory of Cosenza and then studied in Italy with Daniel Rivera and Franco Scala, and in Switzerland at the Geneva Conservatory with Maria Tipo. There he obtained the Diplome de perfectionnement (1992). He also took classes with Joerg Demus, Gherard Oppitz, Paul Badura-Skoda, and with Peter Schreier in German Lied.

Roberto started performing publicly in 1985, playing recitals and collaborating with chamber ensembles and orchestras. His tours brought him to the major cities of 12 countries, including New York, Washington, Buenos Aires, Vancouver, London, Geneva, Copenhagen, Bilbao, Rome, and Florence. His performances were reviewed by Italian and international press, and recorded and broadcast by RAI, Radio Vaticana, Radio Toscana Classica, Houston Public Radio, and Radio Televisiòn Argentina. In 2002 he recorded his first CD entirely devoted to the prelude form in the 20th century and in 2005, with Italian tenor Alessandro Maffucci, a CD devoted to Franz Liszt music for voice.

Roberto is also an accomplished composer. His music was presented at many prestigious venues and played by important ensembles. For example, his Pater Noster for choir was performed in Lyon, France, in 2006 by the Royal Chapel Choir of Copenhagen; Sonata for Viola and Piano was presented in 1995 at the Council Palace of Buenos Aires, and 12 Preludes for Piano were performed in Norway and in Krakow, Poland. The two-time winner of the Ibla International Music Competition (in 1996 as a pianist and in 1997 as a composer), Roberto Russo teaches courses and seminars at the Music Conservatories in Tromsoe, Norway; Oviedo, Spain; Bucharest and Krakow. Between 2000 and 2005 Roberto was the Artistic Director of the Liszt International Competition for Pianists and Composers in Grottammare, Italy. He currently teaches piano at his alma mater, the Conservatory of Cosenza.

We have a large selection of Roberto's performances in our library; for the playlist we selected several preludes, two of which are Roberto's own compositions. First is La sérénade interrompue, from Preludes, Book 1 by Claude Debussy, then Prelude op. 5 no. 2 by Dmitri Kabalevsky, followed by Prelude no. 4, from Five preludes without opus number, by Dmitry Shostakovich, and Para los acentos (no.1 of 12 Preludios Americanos) by Alberto Ginastera. Two preludes by Russo are: Piano Prelude in C major and Piano Prelude in G sharp minor, Homage to Dmitri Shostakovich. To listen, click here.

May 16, 2011

The American pianist Pnina Becher lives the life of a "regular" virtuoso: she performs in the US and abroad and has issued several successful CDs, but the arc of her professional career was highly unusual. Pinina was born to American parents in a small village, Moshav Beit Herut, in Israel. She was considered a prodigy in early childhood, and won medals and scholarships in piano competitions throughout Israel. After serving for two years in the Israeli army, she entered the Tel Aviv Rubin Academy of Music, studying with Emanuel Krasovsky. Although it was clear that a thriving musical career lay ahead, Pnina got married and moved to New York instead, and decided to stop playing the piano to concentrate on her family.

Eighteen years later, she moved to Scottsdale, Arizona, and started playing publicly again. She performed both as a soloist, and with orchestras in the United States, Europe, and Israel, and Australia, where she played at the prestigious Melbourne International Arts Festival and was enthusiastically received in her sold out concerts. Her first album, a recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations has been critically acclaimed, and Pnina's second album, with works of Scarlatti, Chopin, and Debussy, has been recently released.

We'll hear four pieces performed by Pnina Becher. First, the Cat's fugue, a one-movement sonata by Domenico Scarlatti, Kk 30; then three excerpts from Pour le Piano by Claude Debussy: Prelude, Sarabande, and Tocatta. To listen, click here.

May 9, 2011

Today we're marking (albeit belatedly) anniversaries of two great composers: Johannes Brahms was born on May 7 in Hamburg, Germany in 1833, and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky seven years later, in a small provincial town of Votkins, Russia. Both became famous during their lifetime, both wrote magnificent romantic symphonies and their piano and violin concertos are in the repertoire of every concretizing musician. What is surprising is how different the musical traditions were from which the two men came. Brahms, "one of the three Bs," as Bülow put it, followed in the steps of generations of composers. From Michael Praetorius and Heinrich Schütz in the early 17^th century, to Buxtehude and Telemann, and then Bach, Gluck and on, classical music in Germany had been developing for hundreds of years. When Tchaikovsky was born, however, Russian classical music was all of 4 years old: Glinka's opera "Ivan Susanin," the first significant and authentically Russian musical composition, was completed in 1836. By the time of Tchaikovsky's death in 1893, Russian music was securely established as one of the leading national schools.

We have so many recordings of both composers that our listeners would do better by browsing the library. Still, here are two playlists. Brahms: the finale (fourth movement) of Piano Quartet Op.25 performed by Quartetto Anthos; Intermezzo in e minor, Op. 119, No. 2, played by the pianist Alon Goldstein; Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77 (with Joachim's cadenza), Rachel Barton Pine, Violin, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Carlos Kalmar conducting. Tchaikovsky: the 1^st movement (Moderato e semplice) of Quartet No. 1 Op. 11, in D Major, performed by the Avalon String Quartet; Valse-Scherzo in C Major, Dmitri Berlinsky, Violin, Elena Baksht, Piano; Piano Concerto No. 1 in b-flat minor, Op. 23 James Dick, Piano, Texas Festival Orchestra, Robert Spano conducting. To listen to the Brahms playlist, click here, for Tchaikovsky – here.

May 2, 2010

The violinist Andrew Kohji Taylor captivates audiences with probing musical insight, luminous tone, expressive phrasing and technical mastery. Born in Boston, Mr. Taylor began playing the violin at the age of four and at nine began studying with renowned pedagogue Dorothy DeLay, who remained his teacher until the end of high school. The late Henryk Szerying was his mentor for many years. Taylor has also worked with Masuko Ushioda at the New England Conservatory of Music, Syoko Aki at Yale University and Uwe Martin Haiberg at the Hochschule der Kunste in Berlin.

Mr. Taylor made his New York concerto debut at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall with Gerard Schwarz and The New York Chamber Symphony, and has recently given a recital at Avery Fisher Hall as part of the Mostly Mozart Festival. He has also given solo recitals in Berlin, Boston, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, Paris, Tokyo, and Washington DC. He performs at music festivals including the Marlboro and the Berlin Philharmonic Chamber Music Festival.

Taylor's recitals are frequently broadcasted on Boston's WGBH radio, NPR's "Performance Today," NHK Japan, and WFMT Chicago. He recorded works by Prokofiev, Janácek and Debussy for Warner Classic. He also recorded for the MMC label, Navona records, and Boston Records.

Our playlist consist of five pieces, three by the French composers, and two by Americans. First, Claude Debussy's Beau Soir arranged for violin and piano by Jascha Heifetz. We'll then hear Composer's Holiday, from Three American Pieces for Violin and Piano by Lukas Foss. Samuel Barber's Canzone for Violin and Piano follows the Foss. Then comes Le Printemps Op.18 by Darius Milhaud. We conclude with Maurice Ravel's Tzigane. Mr. Taylor is accompanied by the pianist Judith Gordon. To listen, click here.

April 25, 2011

Sergei Prokofiev. April 27 marks the 120^th birthday anniversary of the great Russian composer. He was born in Sosnovka, an isolated rural estate in what is now Ukraine but in 1891 was part of the Russian Empire. By the age of five Sergei started taking piano lessons with his mother, a gifted pianist herself (she was from a family of serfs of counts Sheremetev, an old Russian nobility. The Sheremetevs, patrons of arts and music, provided education to the children of their indentured peasants). It was also his mother who asked Sergei Taneyev, the director of Moscow conservatory, to arrange for private lessons for her son. His tutor was Reinhold Glière, himself a budding composer. While studying with Glière, the 11-year old Prokofiev attempted to write a symphony. At the age of 13, on a trip to Petersburg, Prokofiev met with Alexander Glazunov, who was so impressed (Prokofiev by then had composed two operas) that he urged Sergei to apply to the Petersburg Conservatory. Prokofiev was accepted and became one of the youngest students in the Conservatory's history. While there, he wrote two piano concertos and Sarcasms, among other pieces (he played the First concerto to win a competition among the five best students of the Piano department; the score of the Second concerto was lost and Prokofiev rewrote it in 1923). In 1914 Prokofiev traveled to London where he met with Diagilev. He started a ballet Chout (Сказка про шута, or the Tale of the Buffoon). In 1917 he composed The Gambler and his first symphony, Classical. But by then, the Russian revolution was on the horizon and with it, the end of the first Russian period of Prokofiev's life.

In our playlist we have three pieces. The first one, Suggestion Diabolique, Op.4, No.4 was composed in 1910-12. It's played by the pianist Tania Stavreva. The Violin Sonata No. 2 in D Major, Op. 94 bis, 1943, based on the flute sonata, was transcribed for the great violinist David Oistrach. It's performed by Brendan Conway, with Anna Balakerskaia on the piano. Finally, Natasha Paremski plays Piano Sonata No. 7 in F-flat Major, Op. 83. To listen, click here.

April 18, 2011

The violinist Christoph Seybold was born in 1978 in Heilbronn, Germany. Described by reviewers as a "dazzling artist with a distinctive masculine violin sound" he has performed both as a soloist and chamber musician throughout Europe, North and South America, Israel and Japan. Starting violin lessons at age 4, he continued at 11 in the Pre-College Program at the Freiburger Musikhochschule. Later he majored in violin performance at the Music Universities in Cologne and Hanover, where his teachers included Zakhar Bron and Jens Ellermann. He received additional musical input from musicians such as Pinchas Zuckerman, Shlomo Mintz and Ida Haendel .

His performances have recently taken him to major concert venues in Berlin, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Munich, and Bremen. He performed with many orchestras, Klassische Philharmonie Bonn, the Philharmonie der Nationen , Württemberg Chamber orchestra, the Bratislava Radio Symphony Orchestra, and Polish Chamber Orchestra among them. Other concerts took him to the stages of the Celibidache Festival, the Gran Canaria Music Festival, and the Chautauqua Music Festival.

Mr. Seybold has recorded for several German broadcasting companies including the ZDF, WDR, NDR Deutschland Radio Kultur. His CD recording released in 2010 for the label Genuin Classics contains works by Beethoven, Bach, Grieg and Waxman. It was enthusiastically received by both audiences and critics.

We'll hear the first movement, Allegro assai, of Beethoven's Violin Sonata no. 8 (our library has the complete Sonata); the second movement, Improvisation: Andante cantabile, from Sonata for Violin in E-flat Major, Op. 18 by Richard Strauss, and Franz Waxman's Carmen Fantasy. Christoph plays a 1725 Antonio Stradivari, that was given to him on loan through Machold Rare Violins. He's accompanies by Milana Chernyavska. To listen, click here.