Badura Skoda

Maria-Joào Pires has recorded these concertos before, for Erato, and this experience shows in assured playing. In K449 I find the sound of the Vienna Philharmonic, recorded in Vienna's Musikverein, too big: the string section seems large and the hall over-reverberant. Furthermore, the piano sounds plummy, and even those who dislike the fortepiano may question its suitability. With these reservations, one can enjoy Pires's deft and sensitive performance, without strong individuality but offering consistent intelligence, and the brisk finale shows her and Abbado at their best. Even so, this is a romanticized slow movement; the gooey orchestral sound does not help, but the pianist is also partly responsible in a way that I have sometimes noted in her performances of Mozart's sonatas.

Alexander Lonquich has his own special place in the world of the piano: this German pianist, who made his home in Italy, has enjoyed an untypical career. A disciple of Paul Badura-Skoda, he is highly respected by many conductors and instrumental artists, such as Philippe Herreweghe, Nicolas Altstaedt and Christian Tetzlaff, with all of who he collaborates on a regular basis. Navigating his way between the modern and the early piano, he takes the time needed to allow programmes to properly mature, working on them and thinking them over for several years. Such was also the case for this recording, carefully made on a modern Steinway piano, and we have genuinely fallen in love with it. As Alexander Lonquich’s accompanying notes to the CD testify, the artist has intensively reflected on and lived with the music of Schubert before recording it.

A beautifully-packaged 50-disc box set, released to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, one of the most important and adventurous early music labels. The set contains 50 classic recordings of baroque and ancient music, chosen to represent the breadth of this huge and varied catalogue and each disc is slip-cased with artwork replicating the original CD or LP artwork.

Eugenio Catone has received awards in many national and international competitions, including first prize and Bluthner Trophy for the youngest finalst in the Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition 2012; ‘Biella’ Prize at the Pozzoli International Piano Competition in Seregno; ‘Albano’ prize at the Arcangelo Speranza International Piano Competition 2012 in Taranto and first prize at the ‘Chopin Golden Ring’ Competition in Ptuj (Slovenia).

Eugenio Catone has received awards in many national and international competitions, including first prize and Bluthner Trophy for the youngest finalst in the Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition 2012; ‘Biella’ Prize at the Pozzoli International Piano Competition in Seregno; ‘Albano’ prize at the Arcangelo Speranza International Piano Competition 2012 in Taranto and first prize at the ‘Chopin Golden Ring’ Competition in Ptuj (Slovenia).

After Berlin, Vienna was the music centre to which the conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler had the closest artistic connections. Under his direction the Vienna Philharmonic made a whole series of radio recordings that have now, for the first time, been carefully edited under the auspices of the Furtwängler specialist Gottfried Kraus and released by Orfeo on 18 CDs. The series commences with recordings from 1944/45, including one of Mozart s g-minor symphony K550 in which Furtwängler demonstrates his clear sense of form from the very first bars.

Few record labels from the dawn of the LP era are recalled with more admiration and affection than Westminster Records – its first records from 1950 established Westminster as a pioneering source, exploring new and exciting corners of repertoire.

This disc features a collection of works for viola da gamba by CPE Bach. Soloist Emmanuel Guigues studied viola da gamba with such luminaries as Jordi Savall, Paolo Pandolfo and Christophe Coin. She plays and records with several ensembles, notably the Ricercar Consort, la Simphonie du Marais and Doulce Mémoire. Coming from the family of organists, keyboardist Daniel Isoir studied with such great masters as Marek Jablonski, Claude Frank, Paul Badura-Skoda and Paul Tortelier. In addition to leading his ensemble Petite Symphonie, Isoir also works regularly on projects with the Royaumont Foundation and the Bach Academy.