Prokofiev & Shostakovich: Violin Concertos

“…the warmly recorded Berlin Philharmonic and Rattle provide a tangibly symphonic framework for the Shostakovich, highlighting much interesting detail and colour. Chang is in superb form projecting particularly high-voltage playing in the Scherzo and Finale of the Shostakovich and in the second movement of the Prokofiev.” --BBC Music Magazine, April 2006 ****

Gramophone Magazine Editor's Choice - May 2006

“She can shade her violin a thousand ways, and with lightning speed too… this is a CD crackling with excitement” --The Times

“The soloist is fortunate to be partnered by Sir Simon Rattle and his Berliners. …this is a reminder of his unambiguous excellence as a concerto accompanist. Sarah Chang… plunges excitedly into climactic passages, determined to give her big dark sound a scorching edge, The technical control is mightily impressive... this is great playing, perhaps the best she has yet given us.” --Gramophone Magazine, May 2006

Granados: Piano Trio, Piano Quintet

Performer, composer and teacher, Enrique Granados stood with de Falla and Albéniz as the most outstanding Spanish musician of his time. Among his dozen or so chamber works the Piano Trio and Piano Quintet, both from 1894, exemplify Granados’s highly expressive, Neo-romantic style, his piano writing revealing the hand of a virtuoso. Amiable touches of dance and salon music, hints of Moorish, gypsy and folkloric elements, co-exist in these beautiful, refined pieces. The famous Intermezzo from his opera Goyescas, an Aragonese jota, is heard here in Gaspar Cassadó’s popular arrangement.

Like that of many other composers, Granados’s career can, if one insists, be divided into three periods—in his case, Romantic, nationalist, and Goya-esque (?). These two pieces, among his few works for chamber ensemble, would fall into the Romantic (or “neo-Romantic,” as the annotator prefers) category. They do not sound particularly Spanish and establish Granados’s ability to write mainstream European music. The rhapsodic trio is an elegant piece, full of beautiful melodies and clever, imaginative touches. I am happy to have made its acquaintance. The quintet takes a more “serious,” conventional tack and has a nice, showy piano part, reflecting Granados’s skills at the instrument. I don’t expect to hear any better performances in the near future since neither of these pieces is a standard-repertoire item.

The opera Goyescas is based on the earlier piano suite of the same name. The librettist had to fit the words to existing music. It was supposed to receive its premiere in Paris but World War I intervened. Eventually, the Metropolitan Opera stepped in and in 1915 Granados sailed to New York for the first performance (January 1916). Because the Met had trouble making a fast scene change, he dashed off an Intermezzo to fill the necessary time. Ironically, it turned out to be one of his most popular pieces. As a good will gesture, Woodrow Wilson invited him to a reception at the White House, so Granados canceled his ship reservations and took a later sailing. He and his wife arrived safely in Liverpool but then took another ship to the continent. It was torpedoed in the English Channel and the composer and his wife were both drowned. Pablo Casals was a good friend of Granados and Gaspar Cassadó, who arranged the Intermezzo for piano trio, was one of his more successful pupils. --James Miller. Fanfare, September 2010

Vivaldi con moto

“Carmignola is certainly master of his [instrument], not simply technically but expressively too. His bow almost talks as it shapes a motif, turns an ornament, sings a line...ensemble is first-rate.” --BBC Music Magazine, May 2013 ****

“the sound is indeed hard-driven and exciting, full of those pulsating unisons and relentless sequences with which Vivaldi powers his music. But there is also incredible delicacy and refinement here, and Carmignola's wiry sound is a world away from the tubby, rich Vivaldi performances of yore...Superb support from the Accademia Bizantina.” --The Observer, March 2013

Despite the popularity of works such as The Four Seasons and La Stravaganza, many of Vivaldi’s 250 concertos for violin remain largely unknown.

The new recordings of the concertos RV 187 and 281 are based on Vivaldi’s original manuscript scores and capture the thrilling spontaneity of his compositional style. The concerto RV283 also includes a previously unpublished cadenza from the notebook of Vivaldi’s protégé Anna Maria.

Very much a man of the 21st Century, Giuliano Carmignola combines his passion for the baroque with his love of motorcycling, which he calls, “Vivaldi con moto - motion and emotion from a MOTOcyclist-musician.”

Internationally known as a harpsichord player and conductor of baroque opera, Ottavio Dantone has directed his Accademia Bizantina on many acclaimed recordings, including three albums with star countertenor Andreas Scholl.

Villa-Lobos: Bachianas Brasileiras Volume 2

This new installment of what looks to be the complete orchestral Bachianas Brasileiras is as fine as the previous one. Lest this be taken for granted, bear in mind that the worst complete set of the "BB" came from Brazil. The music needs more than just a feel for the idiom: it needs to be splendidly played and recorded, which fortunately is the case here. Both Nos. 7 and 8 take a four-movement form best summed up as "prelude, aria/dance, toccata, and fugue".

Under Robert Minczuk, the orchestra plays with real panache in the toccatas, but also with powerful lyrical impetus in No. 7's opening movement, which rises to a climax of positively Tchaikovskian emotion. BIS also offers a special bonus in letting us hear both versions of BB No. 9, for wordless chorus and for string orchestra. The former is all but unknown, and if the choral singing is sometimes a bit rough and ready (the parts are atrociously difficult), just having the vocal version readily available at last represents a unique treat. The engineering is typically excellent. For fans of the composer, this is self-recommending. --David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

Schubert: Impromptus

“This is something very special. Pires's characteristic impassioned absorption in all she plays – that concentration which makes the listener appear to be eavesdropping on secrets shared between friends – could hardly find a truer soul mate than Schubert. Each Impromptu has a rare sense of integrity and entirety, born of acute observation and long-pondered responses.

Pires's instinct for tempo and pacing brings a sense of constant restraint, a true molto moderato to the Allegro of the C minor work from D899, created by a fusion of right-hand tenuto here with momentary left-hand rubato there. Then there's the clarity of contour within the most subtly graded undertones of the G flat major of D899 which re-creates it as a seemingly endless song. Or an Andante just slow, just nonchalant enough for the Rosamunde theme of the D935 B-flat major to give each variation space and breath enough to sing out its own sharply defined character.

The Allegretto, D915 acts as a Pause between the two discs, a resting place, as it were, for reflection and inner assessment on this long journey. Its end – which could as well be its beginning – is in the Drei Klavierstücke, D946 of 1828. The first draws back from the fiery impetuousness within the Allegroassai's tautly controlled rhythms, to an inner world with its own time scale; the second, more transpired than played, has an almost unbearable poignancy of simplicity.

The paradox of these unselfregarding performances is how unmistakably they speak and sing out Pires and her unique musicianship. To draw comparisons here would be not so much odious as to miss the point.” --Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

Donna Summer Makes Her Mark on the Billboard Charts

Donna's long list of musical accomplishments include: 19 #1 Billboard singles,
12 Gold and Platinum singles, 5 Grammy Awards, 6 American Music Awards,
2 Double Platinum albums, 1 Platinum album, 8 Gold albums.
Her song "Last Dance" won both Oscar and Golden Globe awards.

But what is here is '70s disco at its peak: "Hot Stuff," "Bad Girls," "Last Dance,""On the Radio," "I Feel Love." The kind of stuff that makes weddings and frat parties what they are.

On the Radio: Greatest Hits, Vols. 1-2 originally appeared as a double vinyl set in 1979 and was regarded well enough to make the transition to other formats. The release is an almost complete anthology of her popular '70s output, including the number one club singles "Love to Love You Baby," "Try Me, I Know We Can Make It," "I Remember Yesterday," "MacArthur Park," "Bad Girls," "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)," and "Hot Stuff."

Bartok, Strauss & Grieg: Violin Sonatas

“Vilde Frang's micro-sensitive responses to dynamic, articulation and phrasing...prove a revelation in the heady opulence of the Strauss, which has never sounded so urgently seductive or expressively supple on disc...Finest of all is Bartók's fiendishly demanding Solo Sonata, a virtuoso minefield of technical and musical ingenuity which Frang negotiates with an unflinching sense of musical direction.” --Classic FM Magazine, May 2011 *****

Gramophone Awards 2011 Finalist - Chamber

“Though Frang's tone generally appears quite light and silvery, she has ample reserves, and none of the climactic moments [in the Strauss] disappoint......In the Bartók I was immediately struck by Frang's fine rhythmic sense and varied tonal palette. Her playing has the necessary physicality for Bartók, without ever appearing forced...overall it's a top-class performance and, indeed, the whole programme is clearly a winner.” ..Gramophone Magazine, May 2011

“This is a singularly impressive recital, both for the choice of music - a mixed programme that works very well as a continuous listen...in which the performances are really quite compelling. Such commanding interpretations are made the more so by the musicians being ideally recorded...This is a spectacularly fine disc of unhackneyed repertoire in richly expressive performances.” --International Record Review, April 2011