Bret Mckenzie Songs Without Jokes

The elegant and clean lyricism of Murray Perahia's playing fits this program of piano songs without words to a tee. Perahia has always had a wonderful knack for teasing out singing contrapuntal lines that other pianists ignore. Far from sounding willful, such interpretative playing seems to reveal music that one should have been hearing all along. Consequently, Perahia lends all music that falls under his hands a decidedly polyphonic cast. It is therefore not surprising that Perahia renders the richly textured Bach-Busoni chorale transcription, "Nun freut euch, lieben Christen," with unstudied charm.

Clearly, cellist Mischa Maisky has discovered a terrific marketing gimmick. With his recording of Schubert's Arpeggione Sonata coupled with transcriptions of 14 of that composer's songs; his recording of Brahms' cello sonatas coupled with seven transcriptions of that composer's songs; and his recording of almost nothing but transcriptions of songs by Fauré, Debussy, Ravel, Duparc, and Poulenc, Maisky has found an effective way to distinguish his recordings from those of other cellists. Thankfully, Maisky's gimmick is more than a publicity stunt: each of the above recordings is distinguished by his full-bodied tone, spectacular technique, and sensitive musicianship.

Songs Without Words (Lieder ohne Worte) is a series of short lyrical piano pieces by the Romantic composer Felix Mendelssohn, written between 1829 and 1845. The eight volumes of "Songs Without Words", each consisting of six pieces (songs, lieder), were written at various points throughout Mendelssohn's life, and were published separately.

Songs Without Words (Lieder ohne Worte) is a series of short lyrical piano pieces by the Romantic composer Felix Mendelssohn, written between 1829 and 1845. The eight volumes of "Songs Without Words", each consisting of six pieces (songs, lieder), were written at various points throughout Mendelssohn's life, and were published separately.