Alexandra Neldel

Saxophone/vibraphone duos are few and far between in jazz, and without having done any in-depth research, I’d venture to say that while this one is not absolutely unprecedented – it was preceded by another duo by Franck Tortiller with baritone saxophonist François Corneloup – it remains a rarity.

Renowned in his day as a virtuoso keyboard player, Bernardo Pasquini (1637-1710) was the most important Italian composer of keyboard music between Frescobaldi and Domenico Scarlatti. In that capacity his output has output has been surveyed by Brilliant Classics with authoritative collections of his sonatas for harpsichord (94286) and for two organs (94347). However, Pasquini also composed more than 70 cantatas – most of them for one and two voices with continuo accompaniment, of the concise and dramatic kind written by the young Handel after he arrived in Rome in 1706.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Trio in A minor, Op. 50, was written in Rome between December 1881 and late January 1882. It is subtitled À la mémoire d’un grand artiste [In memory of a great artist], in reference to Nikolai Rubinstein, his close friend and mentor, who had died on 23 March 1881. It is scored for piano, violin, and cello.

Saxophone/vibraphone duos are few and far between in jazz, and without having done any in-depth research, I’d venture to say that while this one is not absolutely unprecedented – it was preceded by another duo by Franck Tortiller with baritone saxophonist François Corneloup – it remains a rarity.

German pianist Alexandra Oehler, whose name has come to stand for high keyboard skill and an extraordinarily varied repertoire, now turns to the music of Ferdinand Hiller. His piano sonatas represent a special case in that their three movements continue without a break. His contemporaries Robert Schumann and Felix Mendelssohn universally agreed that his sonatas and other piano compositions possessed a great wealth of imagination.

On his debut GENUIN CD, Simon Luethy lets his nearly 300-year-old violin by Nicola Gagliano sing: The violinist, who made his Carnegie Hall debut back in 2017, plays works by Ludwig van Beethoven, Sergei Prokofiev, Henryk Wieniawski, and Franz Waxman – all highlights of the repertoire and touchstones for any young musician. Luethy plays the classic Spring Sonata and the bravura Carmen Fantasy with precise articulation and tonal beauty. In the sonatas, pianist Alexandra Troussova proves to be an equal partner, and in the virtuoso pieces she provides the young violinist with a rich-sounding backdrop.