jw
Jonathan Woolf
Continental Britons. The Émigré Composers (Nimbus Records)
(Déjà Review) No one with the slightest interest in these composers can fail to be stirred by this release [JW]
Tchaikovsky, Smetana: Piano Trios (Biddulph)
The immediate post-war Vox chamber music catalogue gives up its secrets in fine restorations [JW]
David Oistrakh (violin, viola): Legacy (ICA Classics)
(Déjà Review) Admirers of string players will warm to this DVD, and to the estimable performances preserved here [JW]
Berlioz & Wagner: Orchestral Excerpts (SOMM Recordings)
Beecham live at the Royal Festival Hall, galvanizing in Berlioz and Wagner [JW]
Leopold Stokowski (conductor) Chicago Debut Concerts (Pristine Audio)
A little slice of Stokowskian debut history in these two discs [JW]
Bryars: Piano Concerto (Naxos)
(Déjà Review) Wistful, often romantic and without flourish, and deeply intimate in reach [JW]
The Art of David Munrow: Complete Warner Edition (Warner Classics)
Protean and prolific [JW]
Haas: The Violin Works (Ars Produktion)
Premiere recordings of Joseph Haas’s violin works, an agile and droll student of Max Reger [JW]
Albert Coates conducts 20th Century music (Pristine Audio)
Dynamic, dramatic, speedy but unexpectedly noble Albert Coates in action [JW]
Brahms: Clarinet Sonata No 1 & Weber: Grand duo concertant for Clarinet & Piano (Nimbus)
A valuable twofer reissues a Jack Brymer recording from 1973 and presents a previously unissued one from nearly twenty years later [JW]
Coleridge-Taylor & Dvořák: Violin Concertos (Canary Classics)
A taut, decisive and first-class Coleridge-Taylor Concerto coupled with a very effective Dvořák [JW]
Kauder: Chamber Music Volume 1 (Toccata Classics)
The string sonatas of an intriguing Viennese figure [JW]
Cilea & Longo: Chamber Music (Tactus)
Unusual light shone on two composers not known for chamber composition [JW]
Andrei Gavrilov (piano): Complete Warner Classics Recordings (Warner Classics)
Gavrilov’s ups and downs charted in his EMI (now Warner) legacy [JW]
Spanish Works for String Orchestra (Nimbus)
A well worked programme; not to be overlooked in the welter of releases and re-releases that continue to saturate the market [JW]
Káťa Kabanová and The Cunning Little Vixen: Janáček’s new lease of life (Moravské Zemské Muzeum)
The first two great operas from Janáček’s final decade explored with generosity and detail [JW]
My Fayre Ladye – Tudor Songs & Chant (Nimbus)
(Déjà Review) This fine disc has worn very well [JW]
Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade (SOMM Recordings)
A live Beecham Scheherazade that generates the heat and drive sometimes missing from his commercial recording [JW]
The Great Forgotten Danish Violinist Henry Holst (Danacord)
Fascinating concerto survivors from Henry Holst’s British days [JW]
Wood: String Quartets No.2, 4 (SOMM Recordings)
Continued reclamation of Charles Wood’s string quartets in generous performances [JW]
Finzi, Swain & ApIvor: Clarinet Concertos (SOMM Recordings)
Imaginative programming presents two Clarinet novelties and an established classic [JW]
Fate and The Excursions of Mr Brouček (Moravské Zemské Muzeum)
The second of four memorable volumes surveys Janáček two problem operas with profuse documentation and historiographic clarity [JW]
Toscha Seidel (violin): American Columbia Recordings (Biddulph)
The brilliant tonalist Toscha Seidel in his first acoustic recordings [JW]
A Musical Soirée (Meridian)
A soirée well worth attending with something for just about everyone [JW]
