Everything Favours!

Bartok - Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 - Pollini, CSO, Abbado (1979) {Deutsche Grammophon 415 371-2}
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© 1979 Polydor / Deutsche Grammophon | 415 371-2
Classical / Concertos

Bartók's Piano Concertos are among the most difficult ever written; only a piano virtuoso of amazing dexterity, along with a virtuoso orchestra, can play them. Maurizio Pollini is that pianist, and the Chicago Symphony is that orchestra. The pianist's command of the music is consistently impressive, and Claudio Abbado leads the orchestra in extremely close sympathy with the pianist. The result is a set of performances that would be ideal except for two factors. One is that this LP reissue contains only two Concertos, when all three can fit on one CD. The other is that the recording balance so undervalues the orchestra that you can't hear everything. I'd love to hear these artists rerecord the same music with better engineering. –Leslie Gerber

George Colligan - Realization (2005) {Sirocco Music Limited SJL1030}
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© 2005 Sirocco Music Limited | SJL1030
Jazz / Jazz Funk / Groove / Hammond B-3 Organ

Since emerging on the scene a scant ten years ago, pianist George Colligan has built the kind of body of work that some artists don't manage in twice or thrice the time. Appearing on over seventy recordings, including over a dozen as a leader, Colligan has proven that one doesn't have to be stylistically myopic to remain focused. Instead, he seems to have an all-encompassing musical appetite. And yet, unlike some who attempt a variety of musical styles and ultimately end up sounding like dabblers rather than serious contenders, Colligan seems to "get everything he tackles.

Saul is one of Handel's most action-filled, fast-moving oratorios; an opera in everything but name only. It has been lucky on disc–both Paul McCreesh (Archiv) and John Eliot Gardiner (Philips) have led superb readings, and Joachim Carlos Martini leads a good performance on Naxos, which is a bargain. Now René Jacobs and his remarkable Concerto Köln come along and offer a truly majestic reading, filled with real drama and beautiful, precise singing and playing. Tenor Jeremy Ovenden sings Jonathan with nobility and faces down Saul in Act II with style and power. David is sung by countertenor Lawrence Zazzo, and he's as good as the best-recorded competition (Andreas Scholl, Derek Lee Ragin). Emma Bell is ravishing as Merab; Rosemary Joshua makes a fine Joshua.

The S1 Sessions is the brand new Solo album from Peter Cox. The fourth album of his solo career 'The S1 Sessions' sees Peter Cox doing what he does best: challenging himself by turning his attention to a very different genre of music and at the same time creating a sumptuous album full of his incredible vocals that fans and music lovers alike will love.

The secular music of Josquin has not always been very successful in recordings. Many of the pieces are very short – some can seem like exercises for something else, and others make little sense unless they're understood in the wider context of other settings based on the same material. The last problem is solved here by the inclusion of a lot of the related settings alongside those of Josquin.