Bartok, Strauss & Grieg: Violin Sonatas

“Vilde Frang's micro-sensitive responses to dynamic, articulation and phrasing...prove a revelation in the heady opulence of the Strauss, which has never sounded so urgently seductive or expressively supple on disc...Finest of all is Bartók's fiendishly demanding Solo Sonata, a virtuoso minefield of technical and musical ingenuity which Frang negotiates with an unflinching sense of musical direction.” --Classic FM Magazine, May 2011 *****

Gramophone Awards 2011 Finalist - Chamber

“Though Frang's tone generally appears quite light and silvery, she has ample reserves, and none of the climactic moments [in the Strauss] disappoint......In the Bartók I was immediately struck by Frang's fine rhythmic sense and varied tonal palette. Her playing has the necessary physicality for Bartók, without ever appearing forced...overall it's a top-class performance and, indeed, the whole programme is clearly a winner.” ..Gramophone Magazine, May 2011

“This is a singularly impressive recital, both for the choice of music - a mixed programme that works very well as a continuous listen...in which the performances are really quite compelling. Such commanding interpretations are made the more so by the musicians being ideally recorded...This is a spectacularly fine disc of unhackneyed repertoire in richly expressive performances.” --International Record Review, April 2011

Beethoven · Ravel · Bartók · Say: Violin Sonatas, Romanian Dances

One of the most promising violinists of the new generation, young Moldovan Patricia Kopatchinskaja makes her Naïve debut with a captivating disc that includes Beethoven’s masterpiece, the “Kreutzer” Sonata, Ravel’s Violin Sonata, Bartók’s Romanian Dances and the premier recording of the Violin Sonata by her accompanist, Fazil Say.

“Patricia Kopatchinskaja and Fazil Say share a radical approach, performing each musical gesture in the most vivid way, with smoothness and tonal beauty a secondary consideration. It's undeniably exciting… Daring, and highly individual playing…” --Gramophone

“This is far from being just another recording of the Kreutzer Sonata. Patricia Kopatchinskaja and Fazil Say share a radical approach, performing each musical gesture in the most vivid way, with smoothness and tonal beauty a secondary consideration. It's undeniably exciting, especially the first movement which, after all, is quite a wild piece, but the exaggerated shortness of many staccato notes can be quite disturbing. And in the finale, which, though it shares something of the first Presto's manic quality, has a joyful aspect, Kopatchinskaja's ultra-short, rather splashy bowing of both main themes fails to project their full melodic élan.

Like the Beethoven, the Bartók is a slightly frustrating mixture of the brilliant and the questionable, but in the Ravel the performance's radical edge is more completely successful. The first movement's out-of-key interjections are sharply characterised and drawn together by a powerful sense of line, and the spirit of the Blues movement is captured wholeheartedly, with some unusual piano sounds and spectacular violin- playing. Not surprisingly, Say's own Sonata is also beautifully played. Most imaginatively written for the two instruments and adopting a direct, uncomplicated style, four short movements chart a progression from romantic melancholy through an area of dark, grotesque struggle to an empty, bleak landscape, with a repeat of the gentle first movement as consolation. Daring, and highly individual playing – it's a CD worth investigating.”  --The Gramophone Classical Musi Guide 2010

Bartók: Works for Violin and Piano Volume 2

“Ehnes gives a stunning account of the Solo Sonata. The impression is that he's simply following all Bartok's meticulous direction...and adding nothing extra. If this seems boring, the effect is anything but: clarity of articulation, beauty of sound, the ease with which he surmounts the technical challenges, and deep understanding of the work's structure and character; all these combine to make a performance that's exciting and enthralling.” --Gramophone Magazine, January 2013

BBC Music Magazine Chamber Choice - March 2013

“Big toned yet poetic, Ehnes is a persuasive interpreter.” --The Observer, 20th January 2013

“Needless to say, the score [of the Solo Sonata] holds no terrors for Ehnes who delivers a magisterial performance...Ehnes and his excellent pianist, Andrew Armstrong, make the best possible case for reappraising the early Violin Sonata of 1903, dismissed by the composer as a mere apprentice work.” --BBC Music Magazine, March 2013 *****

Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra & Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta

“If you're unfamiliar with these seminal mid-20th century works, here's an unmissable chance of getting to know it.” --BBC Music Magazine, June 2012 *****

“Warmth and vitality are appropriate keywords for this coupling, a practical Bartok primer you might say, well played, persuasively interpreted and nicely recorded...In the Concerto for Orchestra's first movement Marin Alsop and her players generate plenty of energy...a fine bargain and a credible starting point for those wanting to dip a toe into Bartokian waters.” --Gramophone Magazine, July 2012

“the music seems to have been conceived with the upfront style of American orchestral playing in mind...[Alsop's] account of the Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta...is very impressive, controlled and pungent, albeit without quite the expressionist edge that the music sometimes needs.” --The Guardian, 10th May 2012 ***

“Her orchestra's precision here is enviable, with crisp ensemble playing and solo voices of considerable character. The sound is not particularly full-bodied but neither is it bloated - rather, it is to some extent reminiscent of the finest American orchestras of past decades in privileging nuance above raw power.” --International Record Review, May 2012

“This muscular and thrilling recording amply demonstrates why Marin Alsop is such a sought after conductor and why the Baltimore Symphony is so highly thought of all over the world.” --MusicWeb International, July 2012

Sonatas by Mozart, Liszt & Berg with Bartók's folk dances

“This richly varied selection of works...opens with probably the most powerful of Mozart's two minor-key sonatas and Grimaud's interpretation is suitably involved and full-blooded...Her ardour and romanticism are entirely suited to the Berg and Liszt Sonatas: the technical challenges are effortlessly overcome and the tonal architecture is clearly paramount.” --International Record Review, December 2010

“The Liszt Piano Sonata...is given a powerful and fluent reading that gets to the heart of the piece...skip the Mozart, sample the Berg and revel in the outstanding performance of the Liszt and the delightful Bartok.” --Classic FM Magazine, February 2011 ***

“The best is Bartók’s Romanian Folk Dances — a pungent coda” --The Times, 20th November 2010 ***

“Mozart's A minor Sonata comes through the Grimaud experience much the best. Her booklet interview gives an intriguing view of the composer...and her way of bringing out the music's dramatic, pre-Beethoven manner convinces strongly...In Liszt's Sonata she deploys her technical command with total fearlessness” --BBC Music Magazine, January 2011 ***

Bartók: Violin Concertos & Viola Concerto

“I can't think of a finer CD version of the First Concerto than this...[Ehnes's] rich, yielding tone makes an even stronger impression [in the Viola Concerto], reminiscent of William Primrose in his prime...The kernel of the piece is its slow movement and I challenge any reader to name a version that is either more moving or more beautifully played...its pared-to-the-bone textures mean that Ehnes's soul-warming contribution comes across as especially powerful.” --Gramophone Magazine, November 2011

“Chandos could not have chosen a more ideal team for this project...Here they demonstrate an instinctive understanding for the different musical characteristics of each work...While encapsulating these distinctive emotional worlds, they nonetheless maintain a tight grip over the music's structural direction...Chandos have done soloist, conductor and orchestra proud with a warmly engineered recording that allows us to hear a wealth of inner details.” BBC Music Magazine, November 2011 *****

“a performance that, throughout, is ear-catchingly alert to the music’s range of tonal shading, its abrupt switches of pace and mood, its powerful bravura and its pungent lyricism...this whole disc...gives a remarkable insight into Bartók’s compositional individuality in performances of captivating artistry.” --The Telegraph, 2nd September 2011 *****

““Romantic” is not the first word that comes to mind with Bartók, but there is no mistaking the romantic influences that run through these concertos...Ehnes’s sweet tone and sensitive musicianship make this an unexpectedly rewarding disc, with warm-blooded accompaniments” --Financial Times, 17th September 2011 ****

“His sinewy, lean tone is perfect for the mature Bartok’s stark, rebarbative harmonic language, yet he perceives the lyrical, folkloric vein that runs through the composer’s greatest masterpieces. Ehnes makes the attractive but uncharacteristic early concerto worth hearing, but he really warms to the late lyrical manner Bartok adopted for the Viola Concerto” --Sunday Times, 18th September 2011

MP3 320 · 172 MB

Rózsa & Bartók: Viola Concertos

“Power treats each piece on its own terms and the comparison turns out to be a telling one...[His] immaculate sense of line, and his charismatic sound, is a balm in Bartok's understated concerto. This performance is up there with the best.” --Classic FM Magazine, December 2010 ****

“everything comes across with maximum impact - his agility at speed, his warm 'walnut' tone...and the innate musicality of his phrasing. Andrew Litton is in total command of every aspect of the score...An exceptional release in every way.” --Gramophone Magazine, December 2010

“Power’s supreme artistry fuels performances of works by composers who are linked...All are energised by the orchestra’s vigour.” --The Telegraph, 13th September 2010 *****

“a wonderfully imaginative piece of record programming...The superb accounts of the Bartok concerto and Serly’s short yet compelling Rhapsody only enhance this set’s desirability.” --Sunday Times, 3rd October 2010 ****

MP3 320 ·  135 MB

Ginastera: Violin Concerto · Bartók: Sonata for Violin and Piano

The Concerto for violin and orchestra by Alberto Ginastera is one of the most complex and original works written for this formation in our century. Its form, beginning with a Cadenza for solo violin followed by six studies, is already completely different from that of the traditional concerto. The central part is made up of an Adagio for 22 soloists which shapes the method of the concerto for orchestra in which individual instruments emerge from the orchestral context. 

The orchestral forces are truly impressive. This 1968 live recording features Salvatore Accardo at the peak of his career and, on the podium, a Mario di Bonaventura who contributes to a performance of very high quality and great fascination. The CD programme is completed by Bartók’s interesting Sonata for violin and piano, the composer’s first work for this formation.

MP3 320 · 122 MB

Bartók: The Piano Concertos

“Bavouzet relishes the high-octane energy of the outer movements of the first two concertos but through his imaginatively varied use of colour manages to avoid the trap of making Bartók's percussive writing seem too relentless.” --BBC Music Magazine, October 2010 *****

“If you're after a disc of Bartok's piano concertos that maximises on the music's drive, elegance and sparring potential, then you could hardly to better than his ear-catching new production...Bavouzet doesn't play down the music's earth-derived grandeur...or its drama.” --Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2010

This is the first concerto recording by Jean-Efflam Bavouzet for Chandos. Following the tremendous success of his complete Debussy piano music edition (‘This could well be the finest and most challenging of all Debussy piano cycles’ – Bryce Morrison, Gramophone) – which scooped awards from both Gramophone and BBC Music – and the launch of his ambitious Haydn Piano Sonatas series, the pianist now turns his attention to some of the mightiest concertos of the twentieth century. The three Bartók Piano Concertos on a single CD represents superb value for money.

Bartók wrote his First Concerto, one of his most challenging works, in 1926. The percussive piano writing ads much bite to the textures. The first movement is striking in its rhythmic vigour and dramatic character. The central Andante is essentially a dialogue between the soloist and four percussion players and features much atmospheric ‘Night Music’. In the finale, following without a break, the brilliant motoric rhythms of the first movement return, as does the dramatic use of percussion in a thrilling mêlée of sound.

The Second Concerto was first performed in 1933. The music is more melodically appealing and in the first movement, which is notably contrapuntal, the strings are silent throughout. The hushed slow movement on strings is interrupted half way through by a brilliant and startling scherzo, with a striking sequence of tremolos and note-clusters, before the haunting quiet mood of the opening returns. The finale, again with brilliant use of percussion (as well as brass), ends the work in virtuoso fashion.

The Third Concerto was written at the end of the composer’s life, in 1945, and is much more restrained than the previous piano concertos. The work is lighter, airy, and almost neo-classical compared to much of his earlier music. Unlike much of Bartók’s output, the piece was not composed on commission, but was rather created as a surprise birthday gift for Bartók’s second wife, Ditta Pásztory, who was, like Bartók, a skilled concert pianist. The two lively outer movements, full of the composer’s distinctive rhythmic drive, are separated by a slow movement of great beauty and serenity, with, again, a striking, contrasting middle section. The final seventeen bars were orchestrated by the composer’s pupil, Tibor Serly, after the composer’s death, based on Bartók’s notes.

MP3 320 · 167 MB

Bartók: Violin Sonatas Nos. 1 & 2

“They are performances of outstanding musical insight and technical brilliance...James Ehnes and Andrew Armstrong perfectly encapsulate the anxieties projecting in both works...But they also find room for repose and reflection...As with Ehnes's recording of the Concertos, the present collection sweeps the board in terms of performance and generosity alike.” --BBC Music Magazine, March 2012 *****

“The performances are assertive but never excessively forceful, tonally sweet (useful in this often acerbic music) and, from Andrew Armstrong's standpoint, almost impressionist in their projection of nuance and tonal shading...an exceedingly generous programme (80'30''), expertly engineered, well planned, beautifully executed.” Gramophone Magazine, March 2012

“Ehnes has the measure of the fractured sonata design of the Allegro appassionato [in No. 1]...[He] gives a tellingly understated account of the preludial Molto moderato [in No. 2], dovetailing into a main Allegretto which open out its thematic and expressive potential so the work as a whole seems to unfold seamlessly towards a rapt and unifying postlude.” International Record Review, February 2012

MP3 320 · 175 MB

Dances from the Heart of Europe

'Turovsky and his Montréal players have proved in several previous releases that they are an excellent and responsive band… fifty-two tracks in all, and an intriguing and enjoyable disc. --BBC Music Magazine

'The performances by I Musici de Montréal and Yuli Turovsky are unfailingly stylish and perceptive… Heard as a whole or (preferably) in part, this is a collection that gives considerable pleasure.' --Gramophone Magazine

MP3 320 · 147 MB