Mozart: Christian Blackshaw

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Piano Concertos Nos. 20 & 21
Christian Zacharias, piano / Sinfonie-Orchester des Bayrischen Rundfunks / David Zinman
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 213 MB | Full Artwork: 60 MB | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: EMI # 7243 5 74676 2 9 | Country/Year: Germany 2001, 1989/1992
Genre: Classical | Style: Viennese School

…Zacharias began recording for EMI the following year, and would, by 1997, make over 40 albums for the label, covering a broad range of repertory, including Mozart (complete concertos and sonatas), Beethoven (complete concertos), Scarlatti, Schubert, Schumann, and many others. Despite great success throughout the 1980s and early '90s in his keyboard career, Zacharias decided to take up conducting in 1992. His debut was in Geneva with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande…

Not since Michael Hedges shook the foundations of the acoustic guitar world 23 years ago with the release of Aerial Boundaries has a guitarist created such unique music as 25-year-old UK native James Blackshaw. On The Cloud of Unknowing, his sixth full-length album in less than four years, Blackshaw masterfully paints landscapes of sound with his 12-string guitar and a variety of alternate tunings. The CD begins with Blackshaw chiming rich harmonics from his paired strings, as if sounding a call to morning prayer, beautifully setting pace for the epic title track. In Blackshaw’s hands the guitar becomes otherworldly, and his music truly ascends to new places.

2009 release from the British 12-string guitar virtuoso. James started his music career by playing in UK Punk bands, but soon branched off into more introspective guitar recordings. James is joined on this record by Joolie Wood (Current 93 on violin, clarinet and flute plus John Contreras (Baby Dee and C93) on cello. Lavinia Blackwall (Directing Hand) is a classically trained singer and contributed vocals Beautiful six-panel fold-out digipak with original art by Nicole Boitos.

When UK native James Blackshaw plays his 12-string, something spiritual takes place - the unassuming 23-year-old is transformed into a guitar god whose name belongs alongside the likes of Jack Rose, Steffen Basho-Junghans and Glenn Jones. Time after time, Blackshaw hits out of the park, consistently breaking boundaries in what could be conceived as a somewhat limited medium. O True Believers is the latest in a string of impressive releases, all with their own mood and inspiration. Consisting of mainly solo 12-string acoustic guitar played in a finger-picked style not dissimilar to Robbie Basho, Blackshaw has devised new tunings and new techniques, both of which are in full display here. The album is occasionally embellished with other instruments, such as the Hindustani tamboura and a specially tuned psaltery of Eastern-European origin called a cymbala. This is James Blackshaw at his most vulnerable and sincere, and with that comes two rare and wonderful qualities: truth and freedom.

The greatest of Mozart's wind serenades and the toughest of Alban Berg's major works might seem an unlikely pairing, but in an interview included with the sleeve notes for this release, Pierre Boulez points up their similarities. Both works are scored for an ensemble of 13 wind instruments (with solo violin and piano as well in the Berg) and both include large-scale variations as one of their movements - and Boulez makes the comparisons plausible enough in these lucid performances. It's rare to hear him conducting Mozart, too, and if the performance is a little brisker and more strait-laced than ideal, the EIC's phrasing is a model of clarity and good taste. It's the performance of the Berg, though, that makes this such an important issue; both soloists, Mitsuko Uchida and Christian Tetzlaff, are perfectly attuned to Boulez's approach - they have given a number of performances of the Chamber Concerto before - and the combination of accuracy and textural clarity with the highly wrought expressiveness that is the essence of Berg's music is perfectly caught.

Six piano concertos in a mere twelve months: in no other year was Mozart as productive in this genre as he was in 1784. Christian Zacharias and his Lausanne Chamber Orchestra have taken considerably more time with their interpretations of Mozart’s piano concertos – and with sensational results. This complete recording even now promises to occupy one of the top ranks on international lists: Zacharias is able perfectly and seamlessly to transfer his inimitable touch and sound culture to the orchestra.

Before the advent of recordings, playing duets was a popular social activity. This disc contains what an afternoon of music making between two string players in the 1790s might have included.

Before the advent of recordings, playing duets was a popular social activity. This disc contains what an afternoon of music making between two string players in the 1790s might have included.

Considering that Mozart's Divertimento in E-flat is far and away the greatest string trio ever written, and one of the unquestionable monuments of chamber music generally, it doesn't get the attention that it surely deserves from either record labels or collectors. Perhaps the dearth of regularly constituted string trios (as opposed to quartets) has something to do with it, but the fact remains that there is no greater testament to Mozart's genius than this epic, nearly 50-minute-long masterpiece in six movements that contains not a second that fails to rise to the highest level of textural gorgeousness and supreme melodic inspiration. Happily, most performances understand how special the music is, and give it their best effort. This one is no exception. The Zimmerman Trio plays with remarkably accurate intonation and a ravishing tone that's also mindful of the Classical style. Schubert's single-movement trio makes the perfect coupling. It seems to grow right out of the Mozart until the end of the exposition, when Schubert suddenly sails in with some typically arresting harmony.