Pianist Leif Ove Andsnes and conductor Antonio Pappano work in tandem to give Rachmaninov's first two piano concertos zing and excitement. They bring out all the drama in these concertos, going full tilt where Rachmaninov calls for it, but they don't quite let it slip into hearts and flowers sentimentality in the slow movements. They keep these ...
Antonio Pappano leads a sensuous and dramatically taut reading of Werther on EMI's reissue of its 1999 all-star release. Werther is one of the most intimate and interior of operas, and Pappano successfully captures the mood of the protagonist's turmoil that constitutes its real drama. The leads are in strong voice and make dramatic impressions as ...
Remember the Furtwängler Tristan, the Böhm Tristan, the Kleiber Tristan, or any of the other great Tristans of the past 50 years? If you do, the first thing you remember about them is who did the conducting. Does anyone remember the Suthaus Tristan or the Windgassen Tristan or the Kollo Tristan? No: as important as the singers are, they are not ...
Rare is the album that features works by Puccini that do not include anything selected from his operas. Indeed, this compact disc showcases three works that may be unfamiliar to lovers of La bohčme. The first work featured, Preludio Sinfonico, was completed when the composer was just 18 years of age, and bears distinction as Puccini's premiere ...
It remains a mystery why EMI consistently omits any mention from its program notes of the many gifted artists recording for the label. It's also a bit of a mystery why a cellist with as vast a technique as Han-Na Chang, whose previous discography focuses on the behemoth works of the repertoire like Shostakovich Concerto No. 1 and Prokofiev ...
Dramatic soprano Nina Stemme makes her solo album debut on EMI with Strauss' Four Last Songs and the final scenes from Salome and Capriccio. It would be difficult to imagine two operatic roles more dissimilar than Salome and the Countess Madeleine, but Stemme brings both of them to life. Her Salome is frenzied, and at the end, clearly unhinged, ...
Operatic love duets are usually associated with Italian romantic opera, but two of the most ecstatic duets ever composed come from the pen of Richard Wagner; the final scene of Siegfried is certainly one of the longest love duets ever written. The Act 2 duet from Tristan und Isolde as recorded here features a concert ending written by Wagner ...
Natalie Dessay's Amor, a collection of operatic scenes and lieder of Richard Strauss, is anchored by her all-star turn in the role of Zerbinetta. It is one of her calling cards, and for good reason: her blend of attitude, sparkle, and vocal agility are perfectly matched to the part. Every phrase she utters effuses the manipulative charm at the ...
"It is hard to believe, but Hugo Wolf is still an underrated composer." That's how Ian Bostridge, the Oxford educated English tenor, opens his notes to this recital of Wolf lieder. He is, of course, right. It is hard to believe, and it is also sad but all too true. While the lieder of Wolf's forbearers Schubert and Schumann and contemporaries ...
Fans of Italian composer Ottorino Respighi's Roman Trilogy -- The Fountains of Rome, The Pines of Rome, and Roman Festival may already have their favorite recordings of these well-known orchestral showpieces. And while they may prefer the strongly colored and robustly rhythmic performances by Toscanini, the conductor who gave the works their ...
If you're caught in a tight spot and desperately need a set of Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky's last three symphonies, then this double-disc from EMI may work as a quick fix. But if you need an exceptional recording of these works to last longer than one hearing (say, for the rest of your life), then skip this live twofer altogether, because its ...
This is a fine recording of two vastly under-appreciated works by young cello virtuoso Han-Na Chang. She has the extraordinary technique to play the excruciatingly difficult cadenza in the central movement of the Sinfonia Concertante and the sustained tone to play the long, lyrical melodies in the opening movement of the cello sonata. Antonio ...
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