Grammophone

The child of an American mother and a German father, prodigy violin soloist David Garrett, born David Bongartz in Aachen, Germany, reached and surpassed many an important milestone before his matriculation at Juilliard in New York. Garrett's interest in violin began at the age of four, when his older brother received a violin from his father, who was himself an antique stringed-instrument dealer.

Three 20th-century orchestral scores, Bartók’s Two Pictures, Debussy’s Jeux and Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, all dating from 1910-13 and all linked (as the detailed CD booklet explains), are brought to life in the hands of two exceptional French pianists. The central interest is the ballet Jeux. One of the world’s outstanding Debussy interpreters, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet has added to his complete Chandos recordings with his own transcription for two pianos. Written late in Debussy’s life for Nijinsky, Jeux involves an emotionally erotic and harmonically daring game of tennis. Bavouzet and his well-matched partner, François-Fréderic Guy, play with nimble grace, capturing the works wit and mystery. This gripping album is dedicated to Pierre Boulez, guru and enabler, for his 90th birthday.

"Astounding" doesn't even come close to describing these '60s recordings of Bach's organ works played by Karl Richter on the Jaegerborg-Kirche organ in Copenhagen. Richter's technique is more than astounding; it is stunning in its virtuosity. While there are a handful of organists that equal Richter, there are none who surpass him. From his incredibly independent hands to his unbelievably dexterous pedals, Richter is a marvel.

Steven John Isserlis is one of the leading internationally ranked cellists. He plays a wide range of repertory and is noted for using gut strings and a great deal of vibrato. He is the grandson of Russian composer and pianist Julius Isserlis and can trace his family tree back to connections with both Karl Marx and Felix Mendelssohn. He spent most of his teenage years (1969-1976) at the International Cello Centre as a pupil of Jane Cowan,who required her students to read Goethe's Faust in order to understand Beethoven better and memorize Racine to know the sound of the language when playing French music.

This 1972 studio recording is the ultimate Tales Of Hoffman. The recording was originally an LP on the ABC label in the Westminster Legacy issues, but digitally remastered and edited for cd by Deutsche Grammophon. Deutsche Grammophone cd labels are famous for remastering legendary and classic recordings of classical music and opera and they have outdone themselves again with this one. It features virtuoso singers at the top of their game and the orchestra is directed under the baton of the seasoned conductor Julius Rudel.

Firma Melodiya presents recordings of the outstanding violist Mikhail Kugel. Unfortunately, this name is little known in this country and much better known in Europe where he has played concerts and given master classes for the last 20 years. However, in the beginning of his performing career in the 1970s and 1980s, he was considered one of the best Soviet violists. He shared the first prize with Hungarian violist Zoltán Tóth at the international competition in Budapest in 1975 (Yuri Bashmet won the second prize at the same competition).