The Soul of LADY HARMSWORTH

 This album offers a selection of popular violin miniatures from the period of Romanticism. Listening to these pieces it is easy to comprehend why we all get enchanted by virtuosity and that beautiful melodies always capture the human heart, young and old alike. The recording also features music that has been composed by the performer to demonstrate his own remarkable capacities while the album also has pieces that sound more like honest confessions overshadowed by grandiose compositions. The works are performed by Kristóf Baráti on his Stradivarius Lady Harmsworth and he is accompanied by pianist Gábor Farkas. 

Release date: January 8, 2016

What a good title for this selection of famous 19th-century encores. The ‘Lady Harmsworth’ in question is a 1703 masterpiece by Antonio Stradivari, though for Hungaroton to imply that it belongs to Kristóf Baráti is misleading: he has it on loan from the Stradivarius Society of Chicago. It is as beautiful an instrument to look at as it is to hear, producing in the words of one connoisseur ‘a cheerful, forthcoming tone as rich as its varnish colour suggests’.

And for those who like to hear the violin played at its sweet and acrobatic best, then Baráti is out of the top drawer. Born in Budapest in 1979, he puts one in mind of Vengerov, with the same intensity of sound, unbridled athleticism and, when needed, searing leaps into the stratosphere that send a tingle down the spine. Pianist Gábor Farkas, too, is no wallflower – listen to the precision and crisp rhythm he provides in the three Sarasate pieces – and, beneficially, he has been given equal billing in the sound picture. The four violinist-composers on the disc, not to mention Tchaikovsky, wrote keyboard parts that are meant to be heard. Too often they are relegated to the background or separated from the violin. Listen to Ruggiero Ricci in some of the same repertoire from the 1950s (Decca), fizzing with exuberance and technical wizardry but with poor Louis Persinger and Ernest Lush reduced to mere ciphers. Baráti and Farkas operate side by side and to far greater effect, even when the tempi of pieces such as Zapateado and Moto perpetuo are slightly more measured than Ricci’s.

With a rare chance to hear Ernst’s take for solo violin on Schubert’s ‘Der Erlkönig’ and all three movements (for once) of the Tchaikovsky suite, this disc comes very warmly recommended.

--gramophone.co.uk

TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 6

Written in the last year of his life, this most melancholic of symphonies is forever associated with the tragedy of Tchaikovsky's sudden death in 1893. As an additional special bonus, Christoph Eschenbach performs on piano the seldom performed Dumka (Scenes from a Russian Village), making this unusual coupling a unique release.

“I find this orchestra's response is wanting in the real atmospheric depths so effortlessly encompassed in an all-Russian performance like any of Mravinsky's or Gergiev's with the Kirov Orchestra.” --BBC Music Magazine, August 2008 ****

“One of music's great tragic masterpieces is here reduced to an exercise in showmanship and flashy presentation which says little and conveys less.” --Gramophone Magazine, September 2008

“Eschenbach conducts the Philadelphia Orchestra in a vivid, deeply passionate performance of Tchaikovsky’s final work, the Pathetique Symphony. The opening explodes with a mighty punch, and the brasses sound as if hurrying a convict to the scaffold. The composer is clearly in turmoil – the stuttering phrases are queasy, while there is more than a hint of sour wedding bells in the falling pizzicato. The truncated waltz of the second movement is a little treacly, but this is the only blemish. The naughty gaiety and climactic end of the third is good for premature applause, while the exhausted finale welcomes serene oblivion. The final ten minutes are filled with a mourning piano solo, Dumka Op 59.” --The Times, 27th June 2008 ****

“Here, [Eschenbach's] performance of Dumka continues the trend: the piece itself kicks off as a Lisztian rhapsody on Ukrainian folk themes, before suddenly plunging into sombre uncertainty, while Eschenbach's searching yet flamboyant interpretation leaves you open-mouthed. The symphony, ravishingly played by the Philadelphia Orchestra, is more equivocal. Eschenbach is among the conductors moving away from the idea of the Pathétique as being primarily neurotic, though the tone remains predominantly elegiac.” --The Guardian, 11th July 2008 ****

“Do we really need yet another Pathétique? In this case, the answer is "yes". The sheen of the Philadelphia strings and the orchestra's mellow wind bring their own qualities to a performance that, under Christoph Eschenbach, has real fire and passion. It is a top-heavy sound that lacks the darker timbre of performances under Gergiev (Philips) and Ashkenazy (Decca), but there is certainly room for this sleeker view, warmly recorded.” --The Telegraph, 26th July 2008

“Tchaikovsky's mighty last work... is played with thrilling ferocity, grace and poignancy in this live recording by the Philadelphia under Christoph Eschenbach. This must be one of the finest performances on disc - and one of the most unusual - as Eschenbach has the nerve to follow its unfollowable coda (after a decent pause) with the 10-minute piano piece 'Dumka'. The effect is to remind us yet further of this heart-on-sleeve composer's lifelong sense of isolation.” --The Observer, 3rd August 2008

TCHAIKOVSKY Violin Concerto, Etc

✩ Recommendation

“The sound of Ehnes's violin is especially full and expressive; it's not the kind of tone Tchaikovsky would have recognised but it sound gorgeous and allows him to rise to the concerto's lyrical high spots with considerable intensity. Even his muted tone in the Canzonetta is exceptionally warm and resonant. He clearly enjoys demonstrating his ability as a virtuoso, making this one of the most exciting accounts of the finale I can remember.” --Gramophone Magazine, March 2012

“Ehnes and Ashkenazy deliver a particularly beautiful account of the slow movement...Ehnes demonstrates his characteristically phenomenal technical assurance while bringing out all the fire in the music too...their disc can be recommended warmly not only for the excellent if occasionally strait-laced Concerto but - above all - for the other pieces, which have seldom been recorded with such poise and poetry.” --International Record Review, February 2012

“Ehnes is not a violinist to use bravura as an end in itself...His dexterity is a marvel of lightness and precision in the finale, but it is consistently aimed towards a musical goal, the range of tone beautifully judged and, as in the first movement, the structure and direction kept in clear view. This is a consummate performance...All in all, the disc makes a fine start to 2012.” --The Telegraph, 5th January 2012

“Ehnes’s virtuosity impresses on account of its virtue. He makes a ravishing sound and meets every technical challenge thrown at him with utterly reliable intonation, tonal consistency and beautifully controlled articulation. What distinguishes him, however, is an almost self-effacing intelligence.” --Sunday Times, 8th January 2012

DVOŘÁK Cello Concerto; TCHAIKOVSKY Rococo Variations

Though written barely 20 years apart, Dvorák's Cello Concerto and Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations draw their inspiration from two entirely different epochs. Dvorák's lush, Romantic concerto has hints of Czech motherland and even adaptations of his own previous works. The accompaniment is densely scored with tutti sections that could easily be right out of one of his symphonies. Rococo, on the other hand, harkens back to one of Tchaikovsky's bygone eras and employs only minimal orchestral forces.

Even with their clear contrasts, both works have become cornerstones of the cello's repertoire. Performing on this Virgin Classics reissue of a 1993 disc is Norwegian cellist Truls Mørk with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra under Mariss Jansons. Mørk's technical prowess on his instrument is undeniable; the high technical demands in both works are tossed off with ease and elegance. Intonation is nearly flawless, articulation is crisp and clear, shifts are impeccably controlled, and passage work is nimble. Mørk's sound is not the biggest in the cello community, particularly on the lower strings; this works better in the more lightly scored Tchaikovsky than in the assertive, forceful Dvorák.

Connection between Mørk and the orchestra, particularly in the Dvorák, is fleeting at best. Mørk is rather heavy-handed with his application of rubato, often leaving the orchestra in the dust as he accelerates through passages in the third movement. Rococo gets less rubato and is therefore played with a greater connection between soloist and orchestra. For listeners interested in a technically polished performance, this one certainly fits the bill. There are others available, however, that have a more unified offering and there are cellists with a bit meatier sound.

TCHAIKOVSKY Orchestral Works

"Karajan was unquestionably a great Tchaikovsky conductor. Yet although he recorded the last three symphonies many times, he did not turn to the first three until the end of the 1970s, and then proved an outstanding advocate...Romeo and Juliet is finely done, passionate and dramatic, Marche slave, ideally paced, is very successful, sombre and exciting by turns. Capriccio italien and 1812 are both brilliantly played."

PROKOFIEV & TCHAIKOVSKY Piano Concertos

Maestro Antonio Pappano insisted he wanted to record with Beatrice Rana, the 22-year-old Italian pianist championed by Martha Argerich who shot to stardom when she claimed the Silver Medal and the coveted Audience Award in the 2013 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. On that occasion, Huffington Post described the seasoned competition winner’s performance as ‘an endlessly fascinating piece of humanity that had the orchestra riveted on every note’. Warner Classics signed this young piano sensation in mid-2015; the Italian virtuoso now makes her label debut with the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under the baton of Sir Antonio Pappano.

Release date: 27th Nov 2015

Recorded in Rome, the formidable programme pairs two Russian masterpieces: a thrillingly fresh take on the warhorse of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No.1 in B-flat minor – an indispensable repertoire benchmark and calling card for concert pianists all over the world – and Prokofiev’s stormy, emotionally charged Piano Concerto No.2. This coupling is a bold statement for a musician who ‘possesses an old soul that belies her twenty years, and more than a touch of genius’ (Gramophone), but the soloist believes she has ‘the right character’ for this kind of music: ‘People say that South Italians are very dramatic!’