Cord Garben

I became sceptical when I noted that such a young singer had chosen to record at once these two late sets by Brahms and Wolf. They ought to be the province of baritones and basses (preferably the latter) of mature years, who have garnered the vocal and emotional experience to make the most of two of the profoundest compositions in all the field of Lieder. My scepticism was all too readily confirmed in listening to Schmidt tackle each.

Pettersson's fame, or notoriety as it were, rests with his dour, frothing at the mouth rants in the form of large symphonies. His songs date from early in his career, and reveal a different composer altogether. The Twenty-four Barefoot Songs from 1935, which make up this collection's core, have a charming, folk-like simplicity in their strophic forms and modest performing demands. If you like Grieg's or Nielsen's songs, you'll certainly warm to these wistful bonbons……An attractive release.

Jed Distler @ Amazon.com

In this edition Deutsche Grammophon brings together for the first time all the performances by pianist Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli that have appeared on the "Yellow Label" as well as the legendary early recordings of Beethoven and Scarlatti made for DECCA. Excellent documentation includes numerous rare photographs and a new appreciation of the enigmatic pianist by DG producer, conductor and longtime Michelangeli collaborator Cord Garben.

This release by Norwegian cellist Jonathan Aasgaard (the principal cellist of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra) and British pianist Martin Roscoe purports to be a complete recording of Brahms' music for cello and piano. In fact it's padded with quite a few other things that have little or nothing to do with Brahms other than the fact that he composed the original music.