Stravinsky: Rite of Spring & The Firebird

“Under Sokhiev the Toulouse orchestra plays The Rite with great skill and brilliance making an impressively unified sound. I felt that Sokhiev was somewhat cautious in his approach...[In The Firebird] the Toulouse orchestra under the calm, firm Sokhiev’s direction fare much better. Their playing has an abundance of drama that produces a glorious wash of warm sound.” --MusicWeb International, 17th June 2013

“As for the performances, these are polished and duly exciting...as an imaginative introduction to the world of the ballets, this is a welcome set.” --BBC Music Magazine, May 2013 ****

“Sokhiev's Rite of Spring takes heed of the work's many textural contrasts, with plenty of bite and bounce from the strings in the 'Mystical Circles of the Young Girls' and darkly wailing lower strings in 'Spring Rounds'...I'd call it a driven performance rather than especially elemental” --Gramophone Magazine, February 2013

Rachmaninov, Bach/Busoni, Ravel & Stravinsky: Piano Works

“In Rachmaninov's Corelli Variations, Kempf distinguishes himself for assiduous, well-integrated tempo relationships between movements, and the easy command and intelligent, symphonically orientated delineation with which he shapes the composer's thick textures...Kempf's glittering technique, supple touch and extroverted demeanour in Stravinsky's Three Movements from Petrushka bring out the music's balletic roots” Gramophone Magazine, July 2011

“this is a colourful and enjoyable account [of Petrushka], well-characterised and full of dynamic contrast...fans of Kempf need have no qualms about acquiring this release.” --BBC Music Magazine, June 2011 ****

“Kempf opens with a beautifully-voiced and judiciously-paced view of Rachmaninov's Variations...he finds a meltingly silvery touch for the Ravel Valses (exquisite) before a return to the Russian repertoire that he plays so well, leaving us, thrillingly, in no doubt that the piano is a percussive instrument.” --Classic FM Magazine, July 2011 ****

“Kempf follows [Bach's] text faithfully, allowing each variation to shape the movement without sounding forced...[He] shows an impressive range of organ-like colour along with a pointillism that suits quick passages well...The scene of 'Shrove-Tide Fair' is a roller-coaster ride under Kempff's fingers, driven by a motoric energy that many pianists would find difficult to sustain over eight-and-a-half minutes.” --International Record Review, April 2011

Black Swan Fantasy

A charismatic pianist, with a special unique and as well vituous style.

Nikolai Tokarev was born in Moscow in 1983 and is from a musical family. His father is a concert pianist, his mother a cellist. He began musical training in 1988 at the renowned Gnessin Music School in Moscow, graduating in 2001 with distinction. From 2004 to 2006 he studied at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. He then engaged in postgraduate studies in Düsseldorf with Professor Barbara Szczepanska at the Robert Schumann College of Music.

Theme russe

“The Kuss Quartet's new record, 'Theme russe', consists mostly of a number of appetising morsels, not so much a meal as hors d'oeuvres...Tchaikovsky provides the only substantial work, his First Quartet, played with a lively dance lilt in the Scherzo and a gentle eloquence with the arrangement of a genuine Ukrainian folksong” --Gramophone Magazine, July 2012

“An intelligent, rewarding and well-recorded programme from this superb German-based quartet. The main work, Tchaikovsky's first quartet, comes at the end and is one of the finest recent performances on disc.” --Classical Music, 21st April 2012 *****

An enchanting programme of Russian music for string quartet from the acclaimed Kuss Quartet. The multiple-composer 'Variations on a Russian folk song' has composers such as Scriabin, Rimsky-Korsakov, Glazunov and Lyadov rub shoulders with lesser-known names such as Vitols, Blumenfeld, Ewald, Winkler, Sokolov and Artsybuschev – each composer contributing a variation.

Selections from Tchaikovsky’s 'Album for the Young' frame two 20th-century works: Stravinsky’s effervescent 'Concertino', and Schnittke’s spare and sombre 'Canon in memoriam Igor Stravinsky'. • Tchaikovsky’s ever-popular First String Quartet concludes an ingeniously constructed programme.

Stravinsky & Lili Boulanger: Symphony of Psalms · Psalms Nos. 24, 129 + 130

John Eliot Gardiner is ... one of the supreme choral conductors, and it's been good to hear him in more recent masterworks of the choral repertoire. The balance of clarity and fervor he brings to Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms emphasizes its original blend of instrumental and choral color; this is its finest recording since Maazel's, and one of the best ever. The music of Lili Boulanger is an apt complement on all levels, and Gardiner delivers full emotional impact with expansive readings demonstrating the quality and importance of these works. --Fanfare, 01. November 2003

"A smooth but powerful reading of the Stravinsky that more than holds its own against stiff competition." --Arnold Whittall, Gramophone [11/2002]

". . . his "intensity and solemnity" (Arnold Whittall's words) also pointing up their remarkable originality." --Record Review / Michael Oliver, Gramophone (London) / 01. December 2002

Stravinsky: Pétrouchka & Le Sacre du printemps

“Virtuoso though the playing and conducting are, this is not a self-regarding performance but one that never loses contact with its deep Russian roots. The playing is polished and well balanced but can roughen to ferocious barbarity...This never has the sense of being played for thrills, yet the effect is all the more thrilling for coming from such depths...a worthy memorial to a fine artist.” --Gramophone Magazine, July 2011

“the refinement and precision of the playing are hugely impressive. Litton's care with the textures in Petrushka and his unfussy way of teasing out the instrumental strands in The Rite of Spring matches that exactness” --The Guardian, 14th April 2011 ***

“Andrew Litton conducts the Bergen Philharmonic in what is at times a visceral reading [of Rite]. The playing is rhythmically sharp, if not quite at Stravinsky's own breakneck speeds all the time...if you're looking for a freshly painted Petrushka or a Rite to shake you up a bit, this is shockingly good. Just make sure the neighbours are out first.” --International Record Review, May 2011

“True to form, Litton draws exceptionally clean textures from the orchestra, notably fine woodwind colouring, with a keen eye for every facet of both scores...Litton's almost neo-classical approach brings an attractive delicacy to passages such as the 'Ritual Action of the Ancestors'” --BBC Music Magazine, July 2011 **

Hovhaness: Mysterious Mountain; Prokofiev: Lieutenant Kijé Suite; Stravinsky: The Fairy's Kiss

According to most Hovhanophiles, the first and best recording of the work. From his Chicago players, Reiner conjures up a majestic peak, glistening water streams and a serene state of mind. Although he takes a few liberties with the score (such as a daringly fast second fugue), his lush and effervescent reading works magnificently and has become the work's definitive performance; one Amazon reviewer put it thus: "This recording is transcendent ... the title of the piece is MYSTERIOUS Mountain, and on this recording that is precisely what we get".

Hovhaness was little-known when this high profile recording appeared, which may have been in response to consistently laudatory concert reviews, such as those in Cleveland just 4 months previously, which probably added to the initial buzz begun by Stokowski's performances. Hovhaness apparently knew nothing of this release until its appearance in record stores, coupled with Stravinsky's ballet The Fairy's Kiss, which was programmed on the B-side. Thus RCA definitely saw the Hovhaness work as the main attraction, even commissioning special mountain cover artwork from Robert M. Jones.

RCA made a faithful transfer to CD for the re-issue. Re-mastering was apparently handled by John Pfeiffer, the engineer on the original 1958 recording, and the tape master was transferred from the original analog recording equipment, which had to be somewhat rebuilt. Tape hiss remains audible on the digital reissue, no doubt a decision to avoid all 'post-transfer' noise reduction so as to preserve as much of the original performance detail as possible. But such is the strength of Reiner's 1958 reading that it has held its own against all later digital-era recordings.

MP3 320 · 138 MB

Russian Wind Band Classics

'The Chandos recording has immediacy, good dynamics, and rich Tutti band sonorities. Band music fans definitely need to check this one out.'  --Fanfare

'..the performances get the thumbs up. Chandos' recording engineers have done their work with the necessary bravado.' --International Record Review

'Stravinsky's Circus Polka, Prokofiev's brilliantly balletic Marches for Military Band and a suite from Khachaturian's score for the film The Battle of Stalingrad complete a disc that is as enterprising in repertoire as it is spirited and polished in performance.' --Telegraph

'The band sound truly stunning in the best moments of the score, even through the more hard-driven sections, and on the whole the performances on this disc are highly recommendable. They possess a more transparent and flexible sound than the Stockholm band under Rozhdestvensky, and their trademark lightness (especially noteworthy in the percussion) and crisp articulation give this programme a wonderful shine. If your tolerance for marches and Socialist Realist music is high enough, this could be an enjoyable excursion after all.' --DSCH Journal

'The playing of the RNCM Wind Orchestra is of the highest quality, it's hard to imagine any group could have done it better. Another quality product on the Chandos label' --Brass Review

MP3 320 · 150 MB

Russian Music from Shostakovich, Stravinsky and Prokofiev

". . . an amazing recital, the ultimate demonstration of how two artists with individual ideas and the technical wherewithal to realise them in practice can tease, cajole, pull or push the line, toy with dynamics, experiment with rubato, in a word (all senses), really play . . . It's all there in the Introduction, Mischa Maisky's purring tone singing atop Argerich's stiletto staccato, the tiny delays, heightened colours." --Gramophone

"This is the most energetic and detailed ¿Suite Italienne¿ I have ever heard . . . This concert was clearly an event and I¿m glad DG gave it to us. These two are among the most involved and technically agile players in the business." --American Record Guide

"This is very much a "de luxe" treatment of the "Suite italienne" . . . their performance has an immense range of expression and colour. Very effective and quite exhilarating, making the most of the opportunities Stravinsky gives them, and indeed making some of their own . . . incredible energy this cerntainly has." --International Record Review

MP3 320 · 158 MB

Brahms, Stravinsky: Violin Concertos

The Brahms and Stravinsky Violin Concertos make an unusual and refreshing pair for Hilary Hahn's fourth Sony release. More importantly, her performances are stunning. In both works the young violinist's breathtaking technique, commanding tone, and supreme musical intelligence inform and uplift everything she touches. She adjusts her sonority to Brahms' many swings of mood, from the fiery abandon of her first-movement entrance to her auburn-tinged legato phrasing in the slow movement.

Many violinists make the Rondo's main theme emphatic and choppy, as Kyung Wha Chung does in her recent EMI recording. By contrast, Hahn imparts greater line and continuity without underplaying the movement's jaunty energy, and her phrasing of passagework and virtuosic runs is always governed by overall melodic shape. One revealing case in point occurs in the first movement, where Hahn phrases the two-note sequences over the barlines in a syncopated manner as Brahms asks, rather than on the beat. Those who contend that Brahms was a heavy, thick orchestrator should pay attention to the sheer timbral and textural diversity Neville Mariner unearths in this score. Listen, for example, to the dancing woodwind trills in the third movement, or to the first movement's pointed string pizzicatos (measure 445) against delicate, sustained wind chording.

As for the Stravinsky Concerto, Hahn and Marriner deliver a gorgeously integrated, urbane, and acerbic reading that matches the dash and sparkle of the Perlman/Ozawa/Boston reference version listed above--and then some. Hahn's program notes cogently combine personal observation with succinct musical commentary. Add Sony's ravishing sonics and you've got a major release from one of today's major violinists (you wonder if even Kreisler, Huberman, or Szigeti played so well at 21). But don't forget Marriner and his superb Academy of St. Martin in the Fields: they're anything but your typical backup band! --Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com

MP3 320 · 132 MB