jw
Jonathan Woolf
Enna: Violin Concerto, Symphony No.2 (Dacapo)
There is, unfortunately, little if anything that is distinctive in much of his music [JW]
Echoes of Bohemia: Czech Music for Wind (Chandos)
A highly effective disc [JW]
Bruch: Songs and Dances (cpo)
An ingenious collection of dances, though perhaps not to be played straight through [JW]
Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde (Naxos Historical)
(Déjà Review) Spiritual engagement of the profoundest kind [JW]
Scott: Orchestral Works Vol. 3 (Toccata Classics)
Derek Scott encountered in a third disc of his music; tone poems, fantasies and darker music [JW]
Grosz: Achtung, Aufnahme!! (Channel Classics)
Werner Herbers’s swansong with his Ebony Band: more previously unrecorded Weimar delights [JW]
Louis Kaufman (violin): Violin Sonatas (Biddulph)
A stylish release featuring a quartet of sonatas played by the sumptuous tonalist Louis Kaufman [JW]
Mozart: Piano Concertos (SWR Classic)
Michelangeli’s Mozart at its most ebullient, masculine and human [JW]
Villa-Lobos: String Quartets Vol. 1 (Dorian)
(Déjà Review) A fine start to a much neglected body of work [JW]
McEwen: String Quartets Vol. 2 (Chandos)
(Déjà Review) The Chilingirians really do bring life and joyous affirmation to this [JW]
Carter: The Music of Elliot Carter Vol. 5 (Bridge)
(Déjà Review) Displays all Carter’s life-affirming complexity [JW]
Myaskovsky: Vocal Works Vol. 2
More premiere recordings of Myaskovsky’s introspective songs [JW]
Heifetz reDiscovered (RCA)
(Déjà Review) A disc of drama, excitement and real historical and musical value [JW]
Eugene Goossens – Cincinnati Symphony Vol 2 (Pristine Audio)
More pluses and some minuses with Goossens in Cincinnati [JW]
Koczalski: Symphonic Works Vol. 1 (Acte Préalable)
A long-running series throws up more compositional dilemmas [JW]
Robert Lortat (piano) – Chopin Recordings (APR)
Lortat, a real competitor to Cortot in Chopin, finally receives the transfers he deserves [JW]
Mischa Elman (violin) Tchaikovsky & Wieniawski (Biddulph)
Elman in Slavic repertoire: genteel decline in action [JW]
Otto Klemperer (conductor): The Remastered Edition (Warner Classics)
Klemperer consolidated; his full Warner legacy in best-yet transfers [JW]
Oscar Shumsky (violin): Live at Berkeley (Biddulph)
Shumsky in a previously unreleased recital – a magnificent violinist with an admirable pianist [JW]
The First Songs of Travel (Albion)
A 1950s English song recital restored; excellent remastering but stylistically uncertain [JW]
Coates: Orchestral Works Vol 3 (Chandos)
John Wilson, spruce and lively once again in Eric Coates [JW]
Brahms: Chamber Works (Pristine Audio)
The pre-war Budapest Quartet triumphs in Brahms [JW]
Louis Kaufman (violin) French works for violin (Music & Arts)
(Déjà Review) Lyrical, tragic, introspective, exultant [JW]
Schubert: Wanderer Fantasy and Sonatas (APR)
(Déjà Review) Performances which reflect Smith’s formidable credentials as a Schubertian of distinction [JW]
