Stravinsky Mavra

The years have seen Pierre Boulez record for CBS, Erato, EMI, and Philips, among other labels, but his most consistent and critically praised work has appeared on Deutsche Grammophon, where he has conducted the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic, and his own Ensemble InterContemporain in many successful performances. These ensembles are heard on this trimline, six-CD box set of Igor Stravinsky's major works, which brings together Boulez's recordings of L'oiseau de feu, Petrushka, Le Sacre du printemps, L'histoire du Soldat, the symphonies, concertos, and other works, recorded between 1980 and 1996. As one of the leading champions of modernism, first as a composer and essayist, then as a prominent conductor, Boulez is regarded as an authority on Stravinsky's oeuvre, and it is difficult to imagine many conductors who have a better understanding of the technical and stylistic issues that affect performances. Boulez is also famous for his precision and meticulousness, which make the details stand out clearly in the rhythmically complex and texturally dense orchestral scores of the ballets, and yet seem so delicate and exact in the concertos and pieces for smaller ensembles.

Igor Stravinsky’s later stage works Mavra (1922), Oedipus Rex (1927/28) or The Rake’s Progress (1951) are more than matched by his early 'lyrical fairy tale in three acts' Le Rossignol, which occupies a special place – due to its brevity at scarcely 45 minutes. It is also unusual for the fairy-tale subject matter, based on a story called The Nightingale by Hans Christian Andersen; for its language – the original was Danish, this recording features the Russian version, yet it was premiered in French in Paris in 1914.

Hideko Udagawa’s latest album for Russian label Northern Flowers celebrates rich legacy of Russian music with world premieres and rare works for violin and piano. Recording includes first recordings of new transcriptions of Rachmaninov’s Elégie and Tchaikovsky’s Romance.

Collections of encores are commonplace in the recording catalogs, but violinist Leonidas Kavakos comes up with something new here: a collection of showstoppers. With a couple of little Russian tunes from Stravinsky to ramp up, and Fritz Kreisler's arrangement of Dvorák's Humoresque in G flat major, Op. 101, No. 7, to wind things down, the rest is a nonstop cavalcade of extreme violin, with the various national traditions of the great virtuosos (Sarasate, Wieniawski) and composer showpieces (Richard Strauss and, unexpectedly, Benjamin Britten) providing variety.

Alban Gerhardt & Markus Becker - Rostropovich Encores (2017) {Hyperion CDA68136}
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© 2017 Hyperion Records | CDA68136
Classical / Cello / Piano

An album of encores once played by someone else, even someone as famous as Mstislav Rostropovich, might seem an overspecialized product, but German cellist Alban Gerhardt had some success with a similar album devoted to Pablo Casals, and is now back for more. Gerhardt does a reasonable impression of Rostropovich's songful style, overlaid with a bit of mysterious and gloomy Russian philosophy. But the really innovative feature of the album is the program, which draws out the breadth of the great Russian's musical interests, even in the seemingly restricted feel of the encore.

Pierre Fournier was born in Paris on 24 June in 1906 the son of a French army general. He was known for his lyrical playing and his impeccable artistic sensitivity and this, during his lifetime, earned him the title 'the aristocrat of cellists'.
Fournier was first taught piano by his mother but at the age of nine he suffered a mild case of polio and lost some of the agility in his legs and feet. He was no longer able to master the use of the piano pedals and so turned to the cello.