Where have all the Contraltos gone?
Speaking of contralto, one recording which i recently added to my collection might be an interesting one:
Early opera score by Händel written for a cast of 5 solo voices but none of them tenor/baritone/bass. All three male roles are originally sung by castrati and this recording gives a really nice differentiation by one female alto and two countertenors.
This is excellent. Thanks for the recommendation.
Ophélie Gaillard has released several albums I think you might enjoy. She recorded the Bach suites two times, both versions are well regarded. I like the second recording from 2011, because of her cello’s wonderful warm tone and her relaxed playing.
The albums I like the most, though, are the two with music by CPE Bach, released in 2014 and 2016. Incisive, emotional and gripping performances combine with really great recording quality, and I count these two albums amongst the best we have heard with music by the Berlin Bach…
Edit: I just saw that these albums were recorded at the Paris Bon Secours church, which is a notable recording venue. I remember having noted other albums recorded there for their great sound…
I have Coin, Dieltiens and Mørk. This is a welcome addition. Qobuz has a 24/96 and a 24/192 5.1 edition. I’m listening to the 24/96
Thanks.
Wonderful exposition and conductor’s perspective on Stravinsky’s Petrushka at
You probably already know all this (the information described in the podcast, which I can’t recommend highly enough), but I found it refreshingly enlightening. Particularly enjoyed the description of stratification and of the Petrushka chord (bitonal C major and F# major). The greater insight provided clearly by Joshua Wallerstein deepens my already great appreciation for the piece. I had never put together that fully 8 of 11 Stravinsky ballets were composed at the behest of Sergei Diaghilev, the genius behind the Ballets Russes. A magical collaboration.
These days I rarely will post anymore albums on the same day of their release, but every rule comes with its exceptions, and today’s new release by the fabulous Spanish violinist Francisco Fullana merits a little promotional push. I have taken interest in this young musician since his 2021 Bach’s Long Shadow release, which I found then, and still now, two years later, a thoroughly enjoyable album by a young and rather little-known virtuoso violinist.
The new album features violin sonatas by Turina and Granados, framed by popular pieces by Sarasate and music completely new to me, by composers such as Juan Manén and Eduardo Toldrà. Fullana has the uncanny ability to make the technically most difficult passages sound so easy and natural…
The newest installment of our Classical Community playlist is now available on the Roon home page. My heartfelt gratitude goes out to our playlist contributors. We have a few new faces among our regulars this time around @Andreas_Philipp1, @Traian_Boldea, @bill_perkins, @Gimlet, @eclectic, @mSpot, @Arindal, @Nathan_Wilkes, @ged_hickman1, @Martin_Kelly, & @jacobacci.
Thank you all sincerely and muchly for your indefatigable enthusiasm and tireless dedication to our classical listening education and enjoyment! This thread inspires me to no end. 
In the case of Pulcinella they were joined by Pablo Picasso, who designed the costumes and sets!
This is vol. 1 out of 9 of the Mozart piano concerto cycle, interpreted and conducted by Christian Zacharias with the superb Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, released between 2003 and 2012. Together with those recorded by Murray Perahia/English Chamber Orchestra, Daniel Barenboim/English Chamber Orchestra, and maybe Mitsuko Uchida and Geza Anda, this is my favorite complete cycle of the piano concertos. The sound provided by MDG is superb, the playing relaxed and very musical, altogether magical.
Fascinating that Vol. 1 begins with Mozart’s last piano concerto, the B flat major, K. 595. As an adolescent, I first listened to this without knowing what it was, but liking it, with the 1962 George Szell/Columbia Symphony Orchestra/Robert Casadesus LP. Decided to re-listen to this performance and find I still greatly enjoy it. Splendid orchestra/pianist integration/performances.
Will have a listen to the version you recommended above. Tricky business when the pianist is also the conductor and I wonder what, aside from more convenient logistics and wing-spreading, induces pianists like Uchida and Zacharias to do this. Probably greater control to get the orchestral sound they want. Perhaps more often done than done exceptionally. K.595 is scored for a smaller ensemble, making it more manageable to conduct from the keyboard.
Whoa! Just listened to Zacharias’ K.595. Splendid, and, as you pointed out, superbly recorded. Really like the piano microphoning on this performance.
BTW, enjoyed Mr. Fullana’s Bach’s Long Shadow. Creditable Ysaÿe and a wonderful Fritz Kreisler Recitativo & Scherzo-Caprice for solo violin, the highlight for me.
We are always being marked by those performances we enjoyed in our youth, whatever they be… In my case, this is very much true for Ernest Ansermet conducting the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in Beethoven 9 (1961). Some years ago, I went to great lengths to get a mint vinyl copy of the original Decca pressing, to replace the worn copy of a German book club release my mother had given me when I was little…
Ah. The great Ansermet. Wonderful story and truth. Thank you.
The Croatian-Austrian pianist Dejan Lazić came to my attention by means of his 2017 Liszt recital, released on Onyx. Born in 1977, he was still very young when recording in 2002 this album with two late Haydn sonatas and the second (really first…) Beethoven piano concert. I love this album for the two wild sonatas more than for the Beethoven concert, and I would greatly enjoy some more Haydn by this fabulous artist…
Have you listened to the companion disc ‘The Chaconne Files’, too?
I find his Ysaÿe more than creditable, remembering how much I liked it when first listening to this album. For once I am in agreement with the BBC Music Magazine…
I noticed this recording and am interested.
Oscar Wilde, on his deathbed in Paris in 1904, winced one last time at the wallpaper in his room and said, “This wallpaper is killing me. One of us has to go.”
That outré shirt.
However, vive la différence, in music, in it all.
Thank you for the pointer to the BBC Music Magazine review.
Dejan Lazić is often-overlooked. It’s unfortunate he hasn’t been more prominent in the last couple of decades. It’s a shame that other (arguably less-talented) pianists such as Lang Lang and Yuja Wang take the limelight, and eclipse other talents such as Lazić.
He recorded quite a few pieces for Channel Classics when SACD was in its prime, most of which are in M/C. I can recommend his reimagining of the Brahms Violin Concerto Op.77 for piano, arranged by Lazić himself.
Ronald Brautigam also had a stab at reimagining a violin concerto for piano, in his case Beethoven’s Violin Concerto Op.61.
It’s definitely worth a listen, from one of the greatest Beethoven interpreters.
Conducting from the keyboard is somewhat of a novelty during our era, but it has a long tradition and was standard practice at the time of Mozart. Mozart and Beethoven themselves conducted from the keyboard when playing their concertos.
For a sunny Sunday’s breakfast something different… The Korean-Dutch harpist Lavinia Meijer has released a series of gorgeous albums on Channel Classics… Recommended!
Point taken. Makes sense, since conductors and larger orchestras only started in the early 19th century. I enjoyed Mr. Weilerstein’s StickyNotes podcast “What does a conductor really do?” and have noted that who is conducting an orchestra often makes a significant difference in orchestral performance. Will vary with the piece and ensemble size. Some piano concerti might lend themselves to keyboard-playing/conducting. Others, not so much. I don’t know which are which until I hear them.
And of course there are the great ones who do it all…, compose, play and conduct, though rarely simultaneously, most recently Rachmaninov.
