Peep Show From No. 1 2003 in Pdf

Beethoven's second set of quartets, Opus 59, inhabit a very different universe from that of his first set, Opus 18. Although only six years had passed since the publication of the Opus 18 quartets, Beethoven's style changed immensely. The Opus 59 quartets were composed in the wake of the "Eroica" Symphony, and the vastness of the individual movements; the symphonic, orchestral character of the string writing; and the stretched formal boundaries led some critics to dub the first of the set an "Eroica" for string quartet.

Schumann's F-sharp Minor Sonata is a hard nut to crack, but the young Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes does better than most. He pounces upon the quirky rhythmic ambiguities, clarifying and varying knotty textures with felicitous voicings. His detailing, however, never becomes fussy or discontiguous. The thickest chords resonate more tellingly than in the streamlined Pollini and Perahia recordings. Andsnes plunges into the Fantasy's murky waters, savoring but never dwindling over every harmonic and contrapuntal nicety.

Parry (1848-1918), along with Stanford, made the first stage of a three- stage rocket that got British music into the orbit of the 20th century. Between them, they taught practically every major British composer of the coming generations. Both were excellent symphonists. Parry's Symphony 1 (1891) is itself strongly influenced by Brahms and Schumann in both structure and tone, but it also has a dab of British pomp (you can hear Elgar coming over the horizon). His Concertstuck of 1877 has clear Wagnerian traits, but it is more morose than Wagner. A fine performance and recording. –Paul Cook