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WCLV IS NOW HEARD
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GREAT FOR THOSE
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CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA ON DEMAND PRESENTED
BY THE HERITAGE SOCIETY
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WCLV'S ARTS NEWS now features the lead
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April 2013 Choice CDs by Bill O’Connell
Duke Ellington: Black, Brown and Beige; Harlem; Three Black Kings; The River; Take the ‘A’ Train—Buffalo Philharmonic/JoAnn Falletta (Naxos 559737)
Edward Kennedy ‘Duke’ Ellington wrote some of the twentieth century’s greatest Big Band music, but he also wrote in a variety of forms. The boisterous and evocative "Harlem" pays tribute to Ellington’s roots, "Black, Brown, and Beige" sets work songs and spirituals, while the suite from "The River" shows his genius in writing for the stage. "Three Black Kings," scored as a ballet, was left unfinished at his death, but shows no lessening of invention. Ellington’s arrangement of Billy Strayhorn’s Take the ‘A’ Train became famous around the world after the outbreak of World War II, and ranks among the most widely recorded standards of all time.
Featured Mon 4/1, Wed 4/10, Fri 4/19
Antonin Dvorak: Cypresses, String Quartet No. 13—Cypress String Quartet (Avie 2275)
The San Francisco-based Cypress String Quartet, known equally for its innovation and its elegant performances, debuts on Avie with a recording of its namesake work, a set of 12 love songs scored for string quartet, coupled with the composer’s expansive G major Quartet, No. 13. Known internationally through touring and a dozen acclaimed recordings, the Cypress String Quartet traverses repertoire from J.S. Bach to world premieres of works they have commissioned from such composers as Jennifer Higdon, Kevin Puts, and Elena Ruehr. WCLV has a special connection to the Cypress musicians, since they were the first to be broadcast by WCLV from the KeyBank Studio here in the Idea Center!
Featured Tues 4/2, Thurs 4/11, Mon 4/22
Jan Dismas Zelenka: The Capriccios—Bach Sinfonia/Daniel Abraham (Sono Luminus 92163)
Sono Luminus proudly presents the first surround sound recording of Zelenka’s five Capriccios. The complex scores have been brought to life under the direction of conductor Daniel Abraham, who also crafted these new editions of the works. This sonic masterpiece of the Baroque is presented using all period instruments including natural horn for the virtuosic horn lines. This album is presented in a 2-disc package with 1 CD and 1 stunning Blu-ray Audio disc. --ArkivMusic
Featured Wed 4/3, Fri 4/12, Tues 4/23
Maria Schneider: Winter Morning Walks; Carlos Drummond de Andrade Stories—Dawn Upshaw, soprano; Australian Chamber Orchestra; St. Paul Chamber Orchestra (Artist Share 121)
With commissions from The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Ojai Festival, Australian Chamber Orchestra and Cal Performances came "Winter Morning Walks" (poetry by Ted Kooser) & "Carlos Drummond de Andrade Stories" (English translations of Carlos Drummond's poems by Mark Strand). Here is the segment recently aired on NPR's "Morning Edition" about jazz composer, arranger and big band leader Maria Schneider’s "Winter Morning Walks." (The CD link sends you to Maria Schneider’s website.)
Featured Thurs 4/4, Mon 4/15, Wed 4/24
Camille Saint-Saëns: Piano Quartet Op 41, Barcarolle Op 108 & Piano Quintet Op 14—Cristina Ortiz, piano; Fine Arts Quartet (Naxos 572904)
Saint-Saëns holds a vital place in the history of French chamber music. At a time when his compatriots were more devoted to opera and song, Saint-Saëns (who wrote both, too) repeatedly produced chamber music of compelling individuality and lasting significance. The 1875 Piano Quartet in B-Flat Op 41 remains one of the great works in the chamber repertory, a masterful example of the composer’s organizational skill and lyric gifts. The gorgeous “Barcarolle” is followed by the youthful Piano Quintet in a Op 14, a brilliantly confident work with a concerto-like role for the piano. --ArkivMusic
Featured Fri 4/5, Tues 4/16, Thurs 4/25
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Piano Concertos Nos.13 & 14; Variations on “Ah, vous dirai-je, Maman” K 265; Serenade No. 13 “Eine kleine Nachtmusik” K 525—Janina Fialkowska (Atma 2532)
Widely praised for her interpretations of Chopin, Janina Fialkowska here returns to the chamber versions of Mozart piano concertos, continuing a series she began with Nos. 11 and 12. Again we hear intimate Mozart, rescored by the composer for household use, in the hope that the Viennese enthusiasm for domestic string playing would win him new devotees and make him some money. Fialkowska's refined delicacy suits this arrangement admirably, forcing us to revisit the music afresh and listen again to the clean lines of accompaniment delineated so strikingly by string quartet and double bass. It's so arresting that it seems unnecessary to add yet another recording of the string serenade in G (Eine kleine Nachtmusik) as a make-weight. --Stephen Pritchard, The Observer
Featured Mon 4/8, Wed 4/17, Fri 4/26
Robert Schumann: Carnaval Op 9, Fantasy Pieces Op 12; Pictures from the East Op 66—Antonio Pompa-Baldi, piano; Emanuela Friscioni, piano [Op 66] (Centaur 3177)
If you are seeking a new recording of “Carnaval” and/or the Fantasy Pieces, Antonio Pompa-Baldi, a 2001 Van Cliburn Competition finalist who has built a teaching career at the Cleveland Institute, offers more honest pianism than many others. He’s a thoughtful virtuoso, whose playing is well worth getting to know, and he has many other Centaur recordings to his credit, including a complete Grieg cycle…These are uneccentric, technically strong performances of some of Schumann’s least neurotic piano music. Pompa-Baldi’s “Carnaval” comes across in bold primary colors, with a full sense of the music’s dashing energy, humor, and elegance where required. In the Fantasy Pieces, Pompa-Baldi responds as well to the inwardness of “Des Abends” and “Warum,” which he plays with sincerity and simplicity, as to the speed and technical challenges of the faster pieces. All is imbued with a sense of fantasy in his superlative performance of this masterpiece. In addition to the two well-known, early solo works, Pompa-Baldi is joined by his wife, pianist Emanuela Friscioni, in the late, seldom-heard “Bilder aus osten” (Pictures from the East), a set of six pieces influenced by a medieval Arab epic that Schumann read in a translation by Rückert. The two pianists play with very fine ensemble and an appropriately gentle approach. --Paul Orgel, Fanfare
Featured Tues 4/9, Thurs 4/18, Mon 4/29
March 2013 Choice CDs
by Bill O’Connell
Featured Fri 3/1, Tues 3/12, Thurs 3/21
"These performances, recorded in 2009/10, are not Delos reissues. This Dvorák Sixth is wholly personal and worth getting to know. Contrast seems to have become the name of the game. The first movement, with its exposition repeat intact, is uncommonly swift and exciting, the Adagio unusually slow—a real adagio—but still lyrical and flowing. In Schwarz’s hands the music takes on a larger aspect than it usually does. Janácek’s Idyll makes an unusual but effective coupling, dating as it does from two years before the symphony." --excerpted from ClassicsToday.com
Exiles’ Café: Music by Bartók, Chopin, Prokofiev, Martinu, Stravinsky, Rachmaninoff, Weill, Korngold, Still, Bowles, Sahl, Milhaud, & Fairouz—Lara Downes, piano (Steinway 30016)
Featured Mon 3/4, Wed 3/13, Fri 3/22
This music comes from the Exiles’ Café, a place both real and metaphorical where the travelers of the world gather to find a home away from home, a place where journeys converge and histories collide. The miniatures collected here tell stories of the transformative passage from what is left behind to what is discovered ahead. They speak to vanished worlds and altered lives, to the fragility of destiny and the possibilities of new beginnings: postcards from the Exiles' Café.
Featured Tues 3/5, Thurs 3/14, Mon 3/25
Muzio Clementi was ‘The Father of the pianoforte’, a performer, teacher, publisher and manufacturer of pioneering importance. But in addition to the works for piano, he also wrote a series of symphonies which, along with Cherubini’s D major Symphony, are the only works by an Italian composer to stand comparison with the great Viennese symphonies of the time. Colourful, characterful and atmospheric, these important works show the influence of Haydn, but also, in their orchestral richness, of Beethoven and Schubert.
Featured Wed 3/6, Fri 3/15, Tues 3/26
The Warner/Nuzova duo makes its recording debut with five late-Romantic Russian works on an album dedicated to the memory of one of Warner's mentors, the illustrious Russian cellist, composer, and conductor Mstislav Rostropovich (1927-2007). Fittingly, two of the pieces were originally written for Rostropovich: Nikolai Miaskovsky's rarely heard Sonata No. 2 Op 81; and Alfred Schnittke's Baroque-inspired Musica nostalgica, for violoncello and piano. This is the first American recording of Miaskovsky's mellifluous Sonata No. 2, a work that's rarely performed outside of Russia. It will be a discovery for most listeners. And Sergei Rachmaninoff's Sonata in g Op 19 is a riveting four-movement work from the same period as his Second Piano Concerto. (The link sends you to Wendy Warner’s website.)
Featured Thurs 3/7, Mon 3/18, Wed 3/27
Adding to his illustrious resume, Grammy® Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell has been named Music Director of the world-renowned ensemble, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. Bell conducts mostly from the concertmaster’s chair and in this way led the orchestra for their first recording of this all – Beethoven repertoire. He is the first American and first person to hold the title of Music Director since Sir Neville Marriner formed the orchestra in 1958.
Featured Fri 3/8, Tues 3/19, Thurs 3/28
Les Délices’ second album, “Myths & Allegories”, features vocal and instrumental music inspired by Homer's Odyssey. American soprano Clara Rottsolk is featured in Thomas-Louis Bourgeois’ Les Sirènes, and Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre’s dramatic cantata Le Sommeil d’Ulisse (in a new arrangement by Debra Nagy), plus selections from Jean-Féry Rebel’s 1703 opera, Ulysse. Ulysses’ long-faithful wife Penelope pines from afar as symbolized by Rebel’s violin sonata La Fidelle, while Michel Pignolet de Montéclair’s La Guerre imagines Ulysses and his men on the battlefield of the Trojan War. Featuring Clara Rottsolk, soprano; Debra Nagy, baroque oboe and recorder; Julie Andrijeski, baroque violin; Emily Walhout, viola da gamba; Michael Sponseller, harpsichord & organ. (The link sends you to Les Délices’ website.)
Featured Mon 3/11, Wed 3/20, Fri 3/29
"The program concept—settings of texts inspired by the events of Holy Week and Easter—makes sense, but even if we weren’t aware of the liturgical and textual connections among these sacred motets by some of the most illustrious composers of the Renaissance, as listeners we would be immensely satisfied with the first-rate performances and uniformly gorgeous music...Stile Antico continues to honor the high standard set by its illustrious early-music predecessors, ensuring that its ongoing back-to-the-future projects will be both bright and beautiful. Highly recommended." --excerpted from ClassicsToday.com
February 2013 Choice CDs
by Bill O’Connell
Featured Fri 2/1, Tues 2/12, Thurs 2/21
Featured Mon 2/4, Wed 2/13, Fri 2/22
Ravel, Scriabin, Schubert—Alexander Schimpf, piano (Oehms 867)
Featured Tues 2/5, Thurs 2/14, Mon 2/25
Official release date: 2/26/13
Featured Wed 2/6, Fri 2/15, Tues 2/26
Featured Thurs 2/7, Mon 2/18, Wed 2/27
Featured Fri 2/8, Tues 2/19, Thurs 2/28
Featured Mon 2/11, Wed 2/20
December 2012 Choice CDs
by Bill O’Connell
Sacrum Mysterium: A Celtic Christmas Vespers—Meredith Hall, soprano; Apollo’s Singers; Apollo’s Fire & La Nef/Jeannette Sorrell (Avie 2269) Contains bonus DVD
Featured Mon 12/3, Tues 12/11, Wed 12/19, Fri 12/28
Horns for the Holidays—Dallas Wind Symphony/Jerry Junkin (Reference 126)
Featured Tues 12/4, Wed 12/12, Thurs 12/20
Nine Lessons & Carols—Choir of King’s College Cambridge/Stephen Cleobury (King’s College 1)
Featured Wed 12/5, Thurs 12/13, Fri 12/21
Carols for Quire Vol. 2—Quire Cleveland/Ross Duffin (Quire Cleveland 102)
Featured Thurs 12/6, Fri 12/14, Mon 12/24
Get Happy: Virtuoso Show Tunes for Piano—Jenny Lin, piano (Steinway 30011)
Featured Fri 12/7, Mon 12/17, Thurs 12/27
Home for the Holidays—Cincinnati Pops/John Morris Russell (Fanfare Cincinnati 1)
Featured Mon 12/10, Tues 12/18, Wed 12/26
November 2012 Choice CDs
by Bill O’Connell
Pater Noster: A Choral Reflection on the Lord’s Prayer—The King’s Singers (Naxos 572987)
Featured Fri 11/2, Tues 11/13, Fri 11/23
Dvorák: Symphonies Nos. 3 & 6—Bournemouth Symphony/José Serebrier (Warner 65775)
Featured Mon 11/5, Wed 11/14
Horns for the Holidays—Dallas Wind Symphony/Jerry Junkin (Reference 126)
Featured Tues 11/6, Thurs 11/15, Mon 11/26
Bach Brandenburg Concertos & Shostakovich Preludes Op 87—Ensemble Caprice/Matthias Maute (Analekta 9996)
Featured Wed 11/7, Fri 11/16, Tues 11/27
Nine Lessons & Carols—Choir of King’s College Cambridge/Stephen Cleobury (King’s College 1)
Featured Thurs 11/8, Mon 11/19, Wed 11/28
Schumann, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Webern & Pfitzner Orchestral Works—Seattle Symphony/Gerard Schwarz (Naxos 572770)
Featured Fri 11/9, Tues 11/20, Thurs 11/29
Home for the Holidays—Cincinnati Pops/John Morris Russell (Fanfare Cincinnati 1)
Featured Mon 11/12, Wed 11/21, Fri 11/30
October 2012 Choice CDs
by Bill O’Connell
Mozart String Quartets: No.4 K 157, No. 17 “Hunt” K 458, No. 22 K 589—Jerusalem Quartet (Harm Mundi 902076)
ArkivMusic.com gives this disc, released in early 2011, 10’s in Artistic Quality and Sound Quality. Victor Carr Jr of ClassicsToday.com says “Throughout the program the Jerusalem's solid tone, rhythmic vitality, and impeccable ensemble balance are a joy to hear, especially as it's all captured in excellent sound. Even if you don't think you like Mozart string quartets, this exceptional disc will make you think again.” Don’t miss the Jerusalem Quartet here in northeast Ohio: they open the Cleveland Chamber Music Society season Tuesday October 9th, 7:30PM at Plymouth Church in Shaker Heights.
Featured Mon 10/1, Thurs 10/4, Mon 10/8, Tues 10/23
Carl Nielsen Symphony No. 2 “The Four Temperaments”& Symphony No. 3 “Espansiva”—New York Philharmonic/Alan Gilbert (Da Capo 220623)
Another ArkivMusic.com 10/10 in Artistic Quality and Sound Quality! Click through for David Hurwitz’s rave review of this disc, which concludes “…If this series keeps up as it has begun, it’s going to be stupendous.”
Featured Tues 10/2, Thurs 10/11, Mon 10/22, Wed 10/31
Viktor Ullmann: Complete Piano Sonatas—Jeanne Golan, piano (Steinway 30014)
Viktor Ullmann’s Piano Sonatas were written between 1936 and 1944, the first four while he free-lanced in Prague, the last three while incarcerated at Terezin. And yet, because one leads inexorably to the next, we can follow the arch of his momentous life through these pieces. He starts with a young man’s testosterone-filled homage to Mahler, and ends with a work motivated by his imprisonment – masterful and mature in its craftsmanship and deeply expressive.
Alex Ambrose of WQXR: "Though [Viktor Ullmann] was fascinated by his era's most avant-garde musical techniques, even the brashest of the works presented here are never less than winning. And if this recording is any indication, even as his circumstances became more brutal, his music only became – if anything – lovelier, more polished and more playful. One might attribute this impression, in part, to Jeanne Golan's gentle touch at the keyboard, which, along with the sonorous warmth of the recording, threatens at times to blunt the crisp edges of Ullmann's lively writing, but which also, at its best, distills his lyricism and color into something cool and pure and sweet.... This disc requires no historical justification or special pleading: it represents the music of an assured and exciting musical voice, persuasively performed and beautifully recorded."
Featured Wed 10/3, Mon 10/15, Wed 10/24
The Beethoven Journey: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 3—Mahler Chamber Orchestra/Leif Ove Andsnes (Sony 542058)
Celebrated Norwegian pianist and new exclusive Sony Classical artist, Leif Ove Andsnes begins The Beethoven Journey, his first ever recording of Ludwig van Beethoven, with live performances of Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 3 at the Prague Spring Festival with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. For the next four seasons, Andsnes will devote the majority of his performing and recording schedules to the music of Beethoven with a commitment to perform and record all five piano concertos.
Featured Fri 10/5, Wed 10/17, Fri 10/26
Dmitri Kabalevsky: The Complete Works for Piano & Orchestra—Michael Korstick; NDR Radio Philharmonic/Alun Francis (CPO 777658)
"Kabalevsky’s piano concertos have been well served on disc recently, with new recordings on Naxos and Chandos. The First concerto is the most ambitious, a bit long for its material, and heavily influenced by Prokofiev (his Second concerto, but without the spice). After this piece, the other three concertos become more concise, closer in style to (say) the Second concerto of Shostakovich. In other words, the music is colorful, tuneful, and completely “Socialist Realist”, but it’s good, clean fun and it’s helped immeasurably by Michael Korstick’s light, brilliant, and effervescent wa
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