Malcolm 2.0

It is to be hoped this release will reawaken interest in the music of William Sterndale Bennett, for it contains much to delight the senses. Juxtaposing the D minor and C minor concertos is a wise move on Lyrita’s part, for they are in many ways complementary works. The most immediately noticeable feature of the First Piano Concerto is that it ends with a Scherzo – the composer was persuaded to omit the finale from his intended four-movement plan!. Although still a student at the time of composition, it is clearly written by a fairly mature composer, as can be heard in the depths plumbed by the Andante sostenuto or by the vividly evoked storm-clouds of the first movement.

The ultimate song cycle performed by two of today’s foremost lieder interpreters; this release is destined to become the reference recording for anyone interested in the great German song tradition.

"(His) Symphony is a very likeable discovery. Both middle movements display a disarming melodic felicity and assurance, and admiring glances towards Dvorák, although Stanford (his teacher) was never happy with the finale. It was first played by RCM students in 1896 (including Holst and Vaughan Williams !). Although it went down well, it gathered dust for over a century. Bostock's alert and affectionate lead enjoy making it's acquaintance… crisp and clear sound for this world premiere recording. In every respect, a solid thumbs-up" [Gramophone]

Elena Kelessidi is one of opera’s most touching and fiery artists and the most international Greek soprano of today. Here she makes her recital debut with this heartfelt programme of songs from a country whose language is natural to her.

Published shortly after Franz Schubert's death in 1828, Schwanengesang is a collection of 14 lieder on seven texts by Ludwig Rellstab, six by Heinrich Heine, and one by Johann Gabriel Seidl, whose poem became Die Taubenpost, claimed to be Schubert's final song. Unlike most performances of Schwanengesang, which follow the published edition, baritone Florian Boesch's rearranged version on Onyx lacks Die Taubenpost, which was not included in Schubert's fair copy of the cycle. Instead, Boesch adds five songs on Sturm und Drang poems by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, making this recording somewhat controversial among purists.

For her first solo recital on harmonia mundi, Christiane Karg, alongside her faithful partner Malcolm Martineau, presents an incursion into the most intimate aspect of Mahler’s music: the songs from Des Knaben Wunderhorn take us to the heart of the composer’s creative process, as do the songs from his youth and the later Rückert-Lieder. Intimate? Yes, for two of these pieces (including the famous Das himmsliche Leben from Symphony no.4) are accompanied here by . . . Mahler himself, thanks to the achievement of the incredible Welte-Mignon piano rolls, which, at the very start of the twentieth century, captured his playing far better than any other recording device of the period could.

To describe this as beautiful Mozart playing would be true, but not the whole truth. For what impressed me most was its very positive character. Everything is of crystalline clarity, everything is what can be conveniently summarized as stylish. Yet never is there a single bar's suggestion of note-weaving for its own sake. Ashkenazy always uncovers strong motives for the notes being there. For this reason he is more likely to convert disbelievers (and there are some, in the context of Mozart and the solo keyboard) than Haebler in her recent boxed set.