The Romantic Piano Concerto 79

The work of a young musician of 25, the celebrated Piano Concerto by Grieg combines the great Romantic tradition and Norwegian folk music. The 'Lyric Pieces' are among the works that made Grieg world-famous. As in the case of the Piano Concerto, commentators have held that a certain combination of intervals (the ‘Grieg motif’) is chiefly responsible for its specific Norwegian quality. For Grieg himself the question of Norwegian culture was a tremendously important one, and he used his international reputation to fight tirelessly for the recognition of Norway as a state.

Deutsche Grammophon has another excellent Schumann Concerto in its catalog, the Pollini/Abbado, with the Berlin Philharmonic, coupled with a good but not great Schoenberg Piano Concerto. Not surprisingly, Pollini is more muscular and evenly balanced in the Schumann, even if he is, as usual, a bit straitlaced. Pires is always the sensitive and probing artist, or so it seems. Here, she is alert from the opening descending chords to the expressive potential in every bar. She puts much more thinking and feeling in her interpretation than Pollini and most others I've heard.

Star pianist Lang Lang joins star conductor Valery Gergiev and the Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre to perform two star-making works of the piano and orchestra repertoire: Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 2 and the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. Both works contain themes that are very familiar to many. The third movement of the Concerto contains the "Full Moon and Empty Arms" theme, while the Rhapsody has the romantic 18th variation that is frequently heard in film soundtracks, most famously Somewhere in Time. The real attraction here, however, is the combination of two spectacular musicians who each have their own following and their own distinct style of interpretation.

Édouard Lalo - Concertante Works for Violin, Cello and Piano - Liège Royal Philharmonic (2016) {3CD Set Alpha 233}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 924 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 458 Mb
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© 2016 Alpha / Outhere Music | Alpha 233
Classical / Concerto / Romantic / Violin / Cello / Piano / Philharmonic

Édouard Lalo made his mark on French music with his opera Le Roi d’Ys, but his instrumental output also has considerable historical importance, with its resolutely innovative aims for its time. More specifically, his concertante music rewards the attentive ear with a brilliant, skilfully constructed style, studded with fresh rhythmic and harmonic inventions that renew the melodic and orchestral language of the genre.

When Nobuyuki Tsujii rose from the piano, having completed his performance at the Thirteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, audience members leapt to their feet and jurors were moved to tears by his passionate interpretation of Chopin s Piano Concerto No.1. Already known in his home country for his refined and effortless playing, his spell-binding performances brought Mr. Tsujii to the attention of hundreds of thousands of new fans throughout the world, while raising his status in Japan to superstar. Gold medalist , Nobu is heard here in a captivating all-Chopin programme of his competition performances.

One major popular composer of Romantic orchestral music whose work, outside of his ubiquitous symphonic suite Scheherazade, is not terribly over-recorded is Russia's Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov. That, and a tendency toward what for him was an "orientalist" strain in harmonic practice and orchestration, makes Rimsky-Korsakov an ideal choice for the recordings on BIS of a relatively new ensemble, the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, founded in 1997 by conductor Kees Bakels. It is a testament to the skill of Bakels as an orchestra builder that he has raised such a fine musical organization in just eight years. Rimsky-Korsakov: Capriccio Espagnol is intended as a follow-up to the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra's recording of Scheherazade, already issued, and as an added bonus, the great Japanese pianist Noriko Ogawa joins the orchestra as guest in Rimsky-Korsakov's all-too-seldom-heard Piano Concerto in C sharp minor, Op. 30. The music, recorded at the Dewan Filharmonik Petronas Hall in Kuala Lumpur, is both very well played and recorded. The Capriccio Espagnol gets off to a great start, with Bakels the orchestra is strongly sympathetic to the piece, though careful ears can pick out some raggedy ensemble in the last section. Ogawa alone is enough to make the Piano Concerto shine, and thankfully Bakels provides comfortable and gracious support to Ogawa's magisterial artistry.

Noriko Ogawa and the Malmö Symphony Orchestra return to the works of Rachmaninov with a disc featuring his first and fourth piano concertos and Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. Rachmaninov’s first concerto was written while he was a student at the Moscow Concervatory, but underwent considerable revisions up to 1917.

Sergei Rachmaninov: Symphonies 1-3; Piano Concerto 1-4; Isle of Dead; Symphonic Dances -
Mikhail Rudy, piano; St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra; Mariss Jansons, conductor
Classical | 6 CDs | EAC Rip V0.99 prebeta 4 | 1,54 Gb | FLAC+LOG+M3U No cue | Full scans | 4shared links
Publisher: EMi Classics

David Hurwitz on Symphony No. 3 & Symphonic Dances
One of the great Rachmaninov recordings ever made, these accounts of the Third Symphony and Symphonic Dances by Mariss Jansons and the St. Petersburg Philharmonic recall the heady days of Mravinsky and the (then-named) Leningraders at their finest–only in top-quality sound. The whiplash strings in the second movement of the Symphonic Dances, hair-trigger discipline in the same work's outer movements, and the razor-sharp modernity that Jansons brings to the Third Symphony all combine to make this reissue irresistible. There are too many memorable moments to list here, but the central section of the Third Symphony's slow movement, full of mordant wit, and the rhythmically thrilling ending of the Symphonic Dances come immediately to mind. If you missed this issue the first time, don't let it pass by again. It belongs in every serious record collection. [5/7/2004]