The String Chees Incident

Here is the box containing Beethoven’s five Piano Concertos performed by Hannes Minnaar and The Netherlands Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Jan Willem de Vriend. So far two single volumes had been issued: while the one including Concertos nos. 4 & 5 was acclaimed by Gramophone as: "beginning a Beethoven cycle with the Fourth and Fifth Concertos is a bold move but one that pays off in all sorts of ways", the same magazine welcomed the disc with Concertos nos. 1 & 2 for “its pleasing mix of finesse and drive”. Now the box also offers the so far unissued Concerto #3. Despite the very large number of recordings already made of this musical corpus, Minnaar and de Vriend have proved that they have something new and totally their own to say about this collection of masterpieces. And it is indeed the peculiar blend of sheer energy and esprit de finesse that can be identified as the distinctive brand or these recordings.

Spring 2020: Corona embarks on its world tour of destruction. Musicians may be grounded, but dreams live on, and suddenly there’s time to finally realise one of them: record some of Boccherini’s music with my friends from The Northern Consort.

Here is the box containing Beethoven’s five Piano Concertos performed by Hannes Minnaar and The Netherlands Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Jan Willem de Vriend. So far two single volumes had been issued: while the one including Concertos nos. 4 & 5 was acclaimed by Gramophone as: "beginning a Beethoven cycle with the Fourth and Fifth Concertos is a bold move but one that pays off in all sorts of ways", the same magazine welcomed the disc with Concertos nos. 1 & 2 for “its pleasing mix of finesse and drive”. Now the box also offers the so far unissued Concerto #3. Despite the very large number of recordings already made of this musical corpus, Minnaar and de Vriend have proved that they have something new and totally their own to say about this collection of masterpieces. And it is indeed the peculiar blend of sheer energy and esprit de finesse that can be identified as the distinctive brand or these recordings.

Mr. Tambourine Man is the debut album by the American folk rock band the Byrds. The album, along with the single of the same name, established the band as an internationally successful rock act and was also influential in originating the musical style known as Folk Rock. The term "folk rock" was, in fact, first coined by the U.S. music press to describe the band's sound in mid-1965, at around the same time that the "Mr. Tambourine Man" single reached the top of the Billboard chart. The single and album also represented the first effective American challenge to the dominance of The Beatles and the British Invasion during the mid-1960s.

One day after the famed radio broadcast, night two of the Capitol Theater homecoming shows offers a staggering snapshot of the heart of the Darkness tour, mixed from multi-tracks by Bob Clearmountain. Bruce and the band are on fire, blazing through Darkness tracks and stretching out for “Kitty’s Back” and a rare “Incident on 57th Street” into “Rosalita,” plus “Good Rockin’ Tonight,” “Twist and Shout” and the year’s first “Santa Claus.”

The second in their award-winning series, the Calidore Quartet return with a three-disc album of the Middle Quartets. Their Beethoven performances have been described as “shockingly deep” by LA Times. The first album of Late Quartets won the Chamber Music Award at the BBC Music Magazine Awards 2024. Their interpretation is informed by their diverse set of mentors, which includes Alban Berg, Emerson and Guarneri and yet still uniquely represents the sentiments, aesthetics and research of their generation. Their interpretations of Beethoven are already critically acclaimed with performances at the Lincoln Centre planned as part of their residency.

Francois Meimoun writes of this new release: “The transcription of the Goldberg Variations took place within a context of total respect for the original text. No change of notes or rhythms. The transcription is based on an “orchestration” of the text for four string players. As in an orchestra, all the instruments in the string quartet are not systematically required simultaneously: variations for two, three, or four instruments follow in succession.

Wolf-Ferrari was a composer of great artistic merit, Italian by nationality but raised in Germany, unfairly forgotten and deserving of rediscovery. His works meld compositional and spiritual elements with a preference for melodic purity and smooth harmonies, a passion for clear and linear forms inspired by Classical-era Vienna, and a meticulous approach. His aversion to complexity and his love of clarity and simplicity – as far removed from the operatic verismo movement as from the experiments of the avant-garde – meant he was, in a certain sense, an isolated figure, yet he knew that, despite the nostalgia in his writing, he had his own vibrant and original voice. His writing for strings displays expert compositional technique and a thorough technical knowledge of the instruments.

With the participation of Corina Belcea, Krzysztof Chorzelski, Antoine Lederlin and Axel schacher, The Belcea Quartet impress with their renditions of Beethoven quartets…