The Whole Music Experience

Classical   Javier Perianes   Les Sons et les Parfums   Debussy meets Chopin   Harmonia Mundi    Chopin and Debussy were both known for composing diffused music for the piano, however, while Debussy also composed for ballet, opera, and chamber ensembles, Chopin strictly composed for piano.   Oddly, when I brought up Chopin’s music once to a colleague, he made a grave error in describing Chopin’s music as “small,” simply because Chopin composed for a single instrument.   Any pianist that has performed Chopin’s keyboard work would not use the word “small” to describe it.    Even listening to Chopin’s mazurkas and nocturnes, provide fascinating contours and development of musical themes, despite the lack of a symphonic or orchestral association.   And even though Chopin did not shout virtuosity like Liszt, Rachmaninoff or Prokofiev or provide mental gymnastics like Bach, Chopin’s seemingly quiet and s...

  Classical   Jerusalem Quartet Sharon Kam Brahms Clarinet Quintet String Quartet, No. 2 Harmonia Mundi     The clarinet is among the most versatile instruments showing up in classical, baroque, jazz, world, gypsy and klezmer music.  On Jerusalem Quartet’s recording of Brahms Clarinet Quintet featuring clarinetist Sharon Kam, the wind instrument takes on a chameleon role blending in with the strings so well, that at times I can barely detect its warm tones.  I’m reminded of the solitary clarinet of Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto , not knowing why exactly since Brahms doesn’t send his clarinet on flights of fancy and the clarinet portrays adult sobriety as opposed to Mozart’s childlike glee.  Brahms, for whatever reason, refrains from shining the virtuoso spotlight on the instrument, and this is during an era when fiery musicianship on a soloing instrument was the norm. The musical conversation of the Clarinet Quintet holds my atten...

C lassical Matthias Goerne (Baritone) Andreas Haefliger (Piano) Schubert Erlkönig Harmonia Mundi Celebrated baritone Matthias Goerne brings us number 7 of a Schubert series, Erlkönig (title comes from a Goethe poem), a collection of songs set to Romantic Era poetry.  If I had only read the liner notes, I would have assumed that the recording only contains darker material.  The titular song indeed tells a dark supernatural tale but at least on this recording it only has one voice, instead of the original three from Schubert’s time (a man, his son, and a phantom).  However, diverse sentiments from a Scottish warrior bidding farewell to his distant love while on the battlefield ( Norman Love ), and spiritual musings ( By the Lake ) and familial love described in nature-based metaphors ( Sunset ) also appear in the 19 tracks. Goerne’s operatic talent comes through on the seductive Fisherman’s Song (which also resembles Mozart’s mirthful arias)....

Javier Perianes (Piano) Beethoven Moto perpetuo (perpetual motion) Harmonia Mundi When I desire to hear the softer side of Beethoven, I listen to his piano sonatas.   Think Moonlight Sonata which these days, ends up on new age and relaxation CDs.   Spanish pianist Javier Perianes performs four of Beethoven’s sonatas and the musician focuses on the perpetual motion implied in these compositions.   Yet, the opener Sonata no. 12 (Marcia Funebre), first movement, pauses and reflects or at least it sounds that way coming through my laptop speakers.   The liner notes cite that the compositions all end with moto perpetuo (a rapid succession of notes).   If you want to hear an example, listen to the fourth movement, Allegro of Sonata no. 12 . However, my concern revolves around the relaxing qualities of the sonatas, and even with the rapid succession of notes that end each composition, calmness envelopes, even with the most rapid passages. ...

  Grieg and Liszt Piano Concertos Stephen Hough Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra with Andrew Litton Hyperion Records Many years ago when I researched European classical composers who included folkloric dance and folk songs in their work, I encountered Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg.  This was around the time that I became familiar with Norwegian folk music so the timing felt perfect.  As far as, the Hungarian composer Franz Liszt, I’m most familiar with the work he composed after he joined a Franciscan monastery.  However, I had read stories about the romantic composer’s affects on ladies in attendance at his concerts.  Remember the passionate violinist in the movie The Red Violin ? I’m guessing that character was loosely based on Liszt or at least the composer’s persona. So when I placed Stephen Hough and the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra’s latest recording featuring piano concertos by Liszt and Grieg, I expected to hear the kind of music t...

Bezuidenhout (piano), Von der Goltz (violin) Freiburger Barockorchester Mendelssohn Double Concerto for Piano and Violin And Piano Concerto in A minor Harmonia Mundi Dubbed the Mozart of the 19 th century by Robert Schumann, imagine that Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809-1847) composed his Concerto for Piano and Strings in A minor when he was 13 and his Double Concerto for piano and violin the following year, prior to composing his famous overture for Midsummer Night’s Dream .   Much of the Bezuidenhout, Von der Goltz and Freiburger Barockorchester’s performance of these compositions sounds like Liszt, Rachmaninoff and Paganini rolled into one and sprinkled with Bach and Mozart.   This recording, a rare treat by any standards, easily ends up on my top 10 classical recordings for 2011.   The passion on the disc alone can heat my home. The recording opens with the Concerto for Piano and Strings features the balanced architecture of Bach...

San Francisco Symphony Michael Tilson Thomas Emanuel Ax (piano) Beethoven Symphony No. 5 and Piano Concerto No. 4 SFS Media/Harmonia Mundi If I had the chance to interview the late Joseph Campbell, I would have asked him about Beethoven’s 5th Symphony . After all, fate knocking at the door followed by a quest into darkness with the eventual emergence into triumph is what Campbell would have labeled, “a hero’s journey.” For Beethoven fate came knocking at the door alright. During the four years it took to write this short and powerful symphony, his hearing deteriorated, he suffered from a finger infection that could have destroyed his career (antibiotics weren’t discovered yet, infections could turn into gangrene…), the woman he loved married another man, and Napoleon occupied Vienna. And yet, the first movement that swayed under the weight of its anger and frustration, also supplies listeners with a few angelic interludes. But the strings burst in anger, the horns rant, a...