in Ong

Domenico Scarlatti is a great composer disguised as a mediocre one. Part of the disguise is that he’s a formulaic miniaturist. It’s easy to dismiss his sonatas with the airy notion that if you’ve heard a few of them, you’ve heard them all. So pianists usually dispatch them as twee appetizers, played with a wink and a smirk, setting the table for meatier fare. But such dismissal dissolves under the sheer inventiveness of the sonatas. Like the protagonist in Ilse Aichinger’s “The Bound Man,” Scarlatti finds endless possibilities within his self-imposed confines.

In this year of his sixtieth birthday, how good to have this reminder of Fou Ts'ong's lifelong devotion to Chopin. Only in the Polonaise-fantaisie does he do himself less than justice: such idiosyncratically fitful, shape-damaging rubato is bound to sound mannered after re-hearings on disc. Just once or twice I would have preferred a more poised, Lipatti-like continuity in the Barcarolle too, though here there are many seductive things by way of compensation.

Olivia Ong is a Singaporean singer who found success in Japan with English-language renditions of bossa nova classics.

Olivia Ong is a Singaporean singer who found success in Japan with English-language renditions of bossa nova classics.

Olivia Ong is a Singaporean singer who found success in Japan with English-language renditions of bossa nova classics.

Olivia Ong is a Singaporean singer who found success in Japan with English-language renditions of bossa nova classics.

Olivia Ong is a Singaporean singer who found success in Japan with English-language renditions of bossa nova classics. Born on October 2, 1985, the multilingual singer began her career at age 15 after winning a singing contest and being awarded a recording contract in Japan in 2001.

Established in Miami, on life support in L.A., then finally burnished in New York City, the Konrad Paszkudzki Trio's aesthetic can be summed up in three words: mood, sizzle and swing. Their sound is classic yet timeless in its mode of expression, captivating ardent lovers of the jazz idiom and Tin Pan Alley tradition alike.
The focus is on standards - tunes collectively known as The Great American Song Book. Without imposing trite gimmicks or relying on overt displays of flash and technical wizardry, the trio stays true to the original musical and lyrical content of the material, with an emphasis on melodic elegance and swinging verve. The influence of Nelson Riddle, Oscar Peterson…

GRAMMY-winning new-age artist White Sun return with their third album, an epic double release with 23 new songs. "White Sun II… was a breakout New Age hit in 2016, where it was a top-charter at both Apple and iTunes."

Even though Vladimir Ashkenazy is most often celebrated for his brilliantly virtuosic interpretations of Romantic repertoire, his skills in playing works of the Classical era are just as worthy, as proved by this 10-disc set from London of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's piano concertos. These performances span a period from 1966 to 1988, capturing a youthful and vigorous Ashkenazy playing and conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra and the English Chamber Orchestra from the keyboard, in approved Mozartian fashion. All of the keyboard concertos are here, including the official 27 concertos for piano and orchestra, the Concerto for two pianos in E flat major, K. 365, the Concerto for three pianos in F major, K. 242, as well as the two Rondos K. 382 and K. 386. Ashkenazy's elegant playing has been highly praised by critics and placed on a level with his esteemed contemporaries Murray Perahia, Daniel Barenboim, and Alfred Brendel, all past masters of Mozart's primary medium of expression.