Gregor Piatigorsky Sonate Für Klavier Und Cello Nr. 1, e Moll, Op. 38: 1. Allegro Non Troppo

It may be hard for some to imagine that a performer whose mastery of baroque performance has established him as one of the most respected "authentic" interpreters could play Romantic music just as masterfully. But this recording, in which Anner Bylsma is joined by the incomparable Lambert Orkis, truly has everything a listener could desire, from transcendentally relaxed moments to intense vitality, from an affable, quirky sense of humour to masculine seriousness and aching sentiments.

I'm giving this disc five stars even though the Bruch really isn't very good (at least, in the orchestra - the winds are horribly out of tune; also, some solo trills are quite sharp [mic was probably too close, since you do have to trill sharp to get it to sound in tune at a distance]). I didn't buy it for the Bruch, I bought it for the Brahms sonatas, and wow, are they fantastic. The characteristic energy and instantly recognizable sound are both there, and du Pré and Barenboim are perfectly on the same wavelength regarding rubato and tempo fluctuations.

When the red light in Studio 2 at the famous Abbey Road Studios came on at the start of the recording sessions for Elschenbroich’s and Grynyuk’s latest ONYX recording, the control room had a very different atmosphere. The recording was made using analogue technology – tape recorders, vintage microphones, and longer takes.At no point was the recorded material subjected to a digital process.

One may be surprised to hear in this recording the Sonata Op. 108 in D minor for cello and not for violin as Brahms conceived it. But, purists be damned, transcription in the 19th century was common practice, if only to facilitate the dissemination of works at a time when sound recording was not yet available! Indeed, didn’t Brahms himself transcribe his two Clarinet Sonatas Op. 120 for viola? In the present recording, Marie- Claude Bantigny has chosen simply to play the violin part an octave lower, without modifying the piano part in any way (unlike Paul Klengel in Op. 78), which allows the score to be heard practically in its original conception, like the same Lied that would be sung by a soprano or a bass baritone.