February 14, 2011

Quartetto Anthos. The four young Italian musicians who formed Quartetto Anthos – Agnese Tasso, violin, Jessica Orlandi, viola, Silvia Dal Paos, cello, and Francesco Spazian, piano – studied separately at the academies of Bergamo, Parma, Lugano, Salzburg, Pittsburgh and Tel Aviv. They were brought together by their common vision and love of classical Viennese and contemporary repertoire.

February 7, 2010

Schubert and Mendelssohn. To our embarrassment, last week we failed to acknowledge not one, but two anniversaries of great composers, those of Franz Schubert and Felix Mendelssohn. They were born just 11 years apart (Schubert on January 31, 1797, Mendelssohn on February 3, 1809), both had tragically short lives (Schubert died at the age of 31, Mendelssohn when he was 38), and their creative periods almost overlapped – Schubert's last three piano sonatas were written in 1828, while Mendelssohn's Overture A Midsummer Night's Dream was written in 1826, when he was just 17. Musically, however, they were generations apart - Schubert's sonatas belong to the world of Beethoven, while Mendelssohn's music heralds the ear of Romanticism.

It's very difficult to convey even a glimpse of Schubert's genius in a short playlist, his' output was simply too vast (Mendelssohn is more "manageable" in this respect), and so in some sense our selections are almost random. We'll hear just three compositions: Impromptu no 3 in G flat major, D 899/Op. 90 played by the pianist Matei Varga; Das Fischermädchen (The Fisher-Maiden) from the posthumous cycle Schwanengesang ("Swan song"), sung by the baritone Thomas Meglioranza with Reiko Uchida on the piano; and one of the last sonatas, Sonata in c minor, D. 958 performed by the pianist Ran Jia. To listen, click here.

We've also selected three works by Mendelssohn in "his" playlist: first, Overture from A Midsummer Night's Dream, transcribed for two pianos and played by DUO (pianists Stephanie Ho and Saar Ahuvia); then Song without Words No. 2 in f-sharp minor, Opus 67, played by the pianist Minju Choi; and finally, the first movement, Allegro molto vivace, of Violin Concerto, played by Giora Schmidt with Israel Chamber Orchestra, Gil Shohat conduction. To listen, click here.

January 31, 2010

The Duo Lopez-Cafiero was founded in Milan in 2009 by two young but already well known musicians, cellist Martina Lopez and pianist Clelia Cafiero. Martina Lopez was born in 1988. In September 2005 she graduated (with highest honors) from the Luigi Cherubini Conservatory in Florence. Since then she has participated in master classes with many leading cellist, among them Pier Narciso Masi, Luca Signorini, and David Geringas. She also completed a two-year postgraduate course at the Mozarteum in Salzburg with Clemens Hagen. In May 2007, at just 19 years old, she won the international competition organized by the orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala in Milan. These days she's the assistant principal cello in the orchestra.

The pianist Clelia Cafiero was born in 1986. She graduated with honors from the S. Pietro a Majella Conservatory of Naples. Like her partner, she also participated and won awards in several international competitions. While pursuing acareer as a pianist, she recently graduated (with honors) from the Milan Conservatory as a conductor and made a debut with the Rossini Orchestra of Pesaro conducting La Boheme.

While new, the Duo has already received wide recognition. They won the 1st prize and Rovere d'Oro prize in the Rovere d'Oro 2010 competition, and the 1st prize in the Luigi Nono 2010 competition in Turin. You can hear them play Beethoven's Cello Sonata No. 3 in A Major, Op. 69 (here) and Brahms' Sonata for cello and piano No. 2 in F Major, Op. 99 (here).

January 24, 2011

Mozart. Recently, the chief music critic of the New York Times Anthony Tommasini wrote a series of highly entertaining but ultimately meaningless articles, reasoning his way into a list of 10 greatest classical composers. He ended up placing Mozart in third place. We'll leave it to Tommasini and his readers to argue the merits of a particular pecking order (it's enough to note that neither Haydn nor Mahler made the list). What is absolutely obvious to any music lover is that Mozart is one of the greatest geniuses in the history of music. On January 27 of this year, the world will celebrate the 255^th anniversary of his birth. Our library is not as rich in Mozart's work as we would like: he was more interested in operas and symphonies than instrumental music. Still, we hope that our playlist will delight your ear.

We start with Giorgi Latsabidze playing Piano Sonata No. 9 in D Major, K. 311. The violinist Tessa Lark, and pianist Ron Regev will continue with Sonata No. 19 for Violin and Piano in E-flat Major, K 302. The young mezzo Rebecca Henry sings Countess' aria Non so più cosa son from Le Nozze di Figaro. And then we'll hear a non-commercial recording made in 1958 by Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli and Orchestra sinfonica di Napoli under the direction of Franco Caracciolo. They play the finale, Allegro, from the Piano Concerto no. 13 in C Major, K. 415.

If given the chance, we would have liked to finish this playlist with the trio Soave sia il vento, from Così fan tutte, probably the most sublime music ever written. Well, maybe the next year. In the mean time, click here to listen.

January 17, 2010

Three Cellists. Among our more recent uploads we have performances of three talented young cellists. Twenty-two year old Camille Thomas, a laureate of the Bleustein-Blanchet Foundation, has an active career both as a soloist and as a chamber musician. She has performed in a number of Europeans countries and famous venues, among them Konzerthaus and Curt Sachs Saal of the Berlin Philarmonie, Radio France, Sorbonne, and Théâtre Marigny. She was also invited to perform in different festivals, including Festival Pablo Casals in Prades. She has played as a soloist with the Philarmonie Baden-Baden and with the Cappella Academica Orchestra of Berlin. Camille is currently studying with Frans Helmerson at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne. In the playlist we've included the first movement of Chopin's Cello sonata op. 65, but you can hear her play the complete sonata here. Camille's collaborator on this recording is Beatrice Berrut.

Russian-born cellist Alexei Romanenko began playing cello at the age of six. Before leaving for the United States, he studied at the Moscow Conservatory. In the US he continued his studies at the New England Conservatory of Music under Bernard Greenhouse and Laurence Lesser. In 1999, Alexei won First Prize at the 8^th International Music Competition in Vienna, and in 2000 was awarded the First Prize at the 2^nd Web Concert Hall International Auditions. In 2009 Alexei appeared in Vivaldi's Double Concerto with cellist Matt Haimvovitz in the "Cellobration" concert presented by the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra. You'll hear Alexei perform Sonata No.10 for Cello and Piano in E Major, Op. 8 by the Italian Baroque composer Giuseppe Valentini. He's accompanied by Christine Yoshikawa.

Wendy Law has appeared as a soloist with major orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Russian Philharmonic, and the Juilliard Orchestra. She has performed throughout North America, appearing in such venues as Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall and Alice Tully Hall, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and Jordan Hall, Boston. An active chamber musician, she has collaborated with the Borromeo String Quartet, Yo-Yo Ma, and Pamela Frank, among others. Wendy received her Bachelor of Music with Distinction from the New England Conservatory studying with Laurence Lesser, and her Master of Music and the Artist Diploma Program from The Juilliard School, where she studied with Joel Krosnick and Tim Eddy. In the playlist we have her performance of Robert Schumann's Fantasy Pieces Op. 73. To listen, click here.

January 10, 2011

In the wake of the New Year celebrations we failed to mention several significant birthdays. We'll correct our slip in this week's entry.

Mili Balakirev, born on January 2, 1827, may be better known for organizing The Five than his own compositions, but there's one clear exception: his Oriental Fantasy Islamey. Here it's played by the pianist Sonya Bach

Giovanni Battista Pergolesi's birthday falls on January 4. Last year we celebrated the 200^th anniversary of his birth. Mostly the composer of operas, he also wrote sacred music (we recently featured his Stabat Mater). Here is Sinfonia (overture) to his opera Lo frate'nnamuratof. It is performed by the Chicago-based period instruments ensemble Baroque Band.

The German composer Max Bruch was born on January 6, 1838. One of his most popular works is probably Violin Concerto no. 1 in g minor (the other one being the setting of Kol Nidrei; since the Nazis wrongly assumed that Bruch was Jewish, they banned his compositions from being performed in Germany). Here is a recording of the concerto made by the violinist Dmitri Berlinsky, with Jupiter Symphony, the late Jens Nygaard conducting.

The first week of January is rich with other musical birthdays as well: Medtner, Scriabin, and Poulenc were all born in early January. We'll celebrate their birthdays at a later date.