jw
Jonathan Woolf
Rodwell: Jack Sheppard (Retrospect Opera)
A problematic genre gives a reviewer problems [JW]
1929: The Wild Sounds of the 20s (BR Klassik)
The luscious hot dance music of Eduard Künneke meets Eisler’s boring agit-prop [JW]
Frederick Stock (conductor) Chicago Symphony, Vol 3 (Pristine Audio)
Further evidence that Stock was an exceptionally able conductor [JW]
The Forgotten Danish Pianist Arne Skjold Rasmussen (Danacord)
Forgotten but Restored: the art of a fluent, fleet but nervous Danish pianist and Nielsen specialist [JW]
Mischa Elman (violin) plays Mozart and Paganini (Biddulph)
RCA LPs restored, showing Elman schmoozing his way through Mozart and encore trinkets [JW]
Stanley: Complete Flute Sonatas (Brilliant Classics)
Lively and sympathetic playing of Stanley’s flute sonatas [JW]
Beyond Twilight – Music for cello and piano by female composers (Delphian)
Vignettes, salon charmers and genre pieces from women composers [JW]
Aux étoiles – French Symphonic Poems (Bru Zane)
A compact survey of favourites and unknowns beautifully presented and adroitly performed [JW]
Dvořák: Symphony No 9 & Cello Concerto (Archipel)
(Déjà Review) Sample the slow movement of the New World and hear a magician at work [JW]
Onslow: Symphonies 1 & 3 (cpo)
(Déjà Review) Onslow’s is a voice that should be heard and not simply in relation to other bigger names [JW]
Müller-Hartmann: Chamber Works (Chandos)
A German traditionalist heard in music written before his enforced emigration to England [JW]
Bacewicz: Works for Violin and Piano (Chandos)
(Déjà Review) A splendid opportunity to get to grips with a large body of Bacewicz’s chamber music [JW]
Karl Eliasberg (conductor): Schumann & Berlioz (Maestro Editions)
This transfer from a chuff-spattered LP is a non-starter [JW]
Kathleen Parlow (violin): Complete Recordings (Biddulph)
A long overdue salute to an overlooked Auer student and a Canadian violinist of technical polish [JW]
Rarities of Piano Music at Schloss vor Husum 2002 (Danacord)
A number of works catch the ear [JW]
Bach: Cello Suites (Doremi)
Pioneering recordings by a superb violist at the height of her powers [JW]
Dvořák: Complete solo piano music (Naxos)
(Déjà Review) Fine performances of seldom heard repertoire [JW]
Sir Adrian Boult (conductor) (ICA Classics)
A previously unissued live Sinfonia antartica heads this 40th anniversary Boult release [JW]
Parry: Piano Music Vol. 1 (Da Vinci Classics)
A splendid start to a Parry pianistic odyssey [JW]
Karajan – The Early Lucerne Years (Audite)
Karajan in Lucerne in largely unreleased performances [JW]
Sardone: Reimagining Aria (Digressione)
Instrumental finesse in Baroque arias reimagined as composed jazz vehicles [JW]
Wilhelm Backhaus (piano) The Complete Acoustic and Selected Electric Recordings (APR)
Backhaus’s earliest recordings reappear, in largely pre-existing restorations, to renewed triumph [JW]
Smyth: Der Wald (Resonus)
The first recording of Ethel Smyth’s Der Wald is severely underwhelming [JW]
Jazz Violin Concertos (Gramola)
A jazzy trio of violin concertos performed by the dashing Benjamin Schmid [JW]
Featured Naxos review |