RAVEL: PIANO CONCERTO IN G MAJOR

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)

Maurice Ravel is another French composer, of Basque descent on his mother’s side, whose family moved to Paris when he was three months old. He entered the Conservatoire in 1889 to study the piano with Beriot and composition with Gabriel Faure. From his earliest works, composed in the late teens, his maturity of style and use of unorthodox harmonies were regarded with suspicion by the academics of the day, and he was repeatedly denied the highest award in the prix de Rome. The last occasion was in 1905, when his elimination at the preliminary stage caused such an uproar that the director of the Conservatoire was forced to resign. He is today best known for the inescapable Bolero, a piece for orchestra without music, as he himself described.

The Piano Concerto in G major, on which the composer worked for two years, was completed in time for the Festival Ravel at the Salle Pleyel, Paris, and first played there January 14, 1932, with publication the same year. The composer conducted the premiere, with Marguerite Long as soloist, to whom the concerto is dedicated. There are three movements: Allegraments,  Adagio assai and Presto. Ravel himself called this concerto the complete expression of his own development as a composer, and stated that he had put the best of himself into the music.

Ravel once called his G major Concerto a concerto in the strict sense, written in the spirit of Mozart and Saint-Saens. He added, less paradoxically, “I believe that a concerto can be gay and brilliant, and that there is no necessity for it to aim at profundity or big dramatic effects. It has been said that the concertos of some great classical composers were written not for but against the piano, and I think that this criticism is quite justified.”

I Allegramente. The gossamer lightness of the opening, with its sparky little tune for piccolo solo against shimmering bitonality arpeggios for the piano, soft string tremolos, pizzicatos, and a scarcely audible roll of the side drum, is an effect to remember. Hardly has the piccolo introduced the melody when it is taken up by a glittering trumpet solo, and it returns again to cap the climax of the brilliant first movement.

II Adagio assai. The slow movement begins with a long nocturne-like solo for unaccompanied piano. The ease with which the melody seems to flow may be misleading, for Ravel has told us that he constructed it very laboriously, two bars at a time, taking the slow movement to Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet as a model.

III. Presto. The finale is a dazzling piece of virtuosity for the soloist with light-textured, witty orchestral accompaniment. The many fragments of American jazz idiom of the finale. In any case, the entire conclusion flies at such supersonic speed that it seems to finish before it has started.

Elgar: Enigma Variations

Sir John Eliot Gardiner makes a very persuasive case for placing Elgar as a composer in classic Central European Romantic mode in these excellent performances of Elgar's orchestral and chamber works, ending with a brilliant performance of Elgar's Enigma Variations. Gardiner's interpretations are certainly radical reinterpretations of Elgar's music; here he emphasizes how these scores pay homage to contemporaries - and artistic mentors - such as Brahms and Dvorak, among others, in his choice of tempi and the lush, warm performances he obtains from the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. I doubt I have heard the Enigma Variations sound so much like a work composed by Brahms before. The sound quality is quite superb, filled with the ample warmth one might expect from recordings made in the Vienna Philharmonic's concert hall. Without question this is yet another successful Deutsche Grammophon collaboration between Gardiner and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.--John Kwok  Listen to samples

Elgar: Cello Concerto; "Enigma" VariationsG

This is a stunning performance of the Elgar Concerto for Cello by the gifted Jacqueline duPre with the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by her husband, Daniel Barenboim. Ms. duPre was already being compared to Casals when she was only in her mid-twenties because of her mastery of the sonorous instrument--known to be one of the most difficult to play. Her career was cut short by multiple sclerosis, diagnosed when she was barely 29, but her recordings, like the one superbly remastered here, live on. In the haunting melody of the Elgar concerto's Adagio, one is reminded of the beauty and sadness of duPre's short career. For cello buffs, this album is definetely 4-star, and the Enigma Variations are a nice bonus.--Ginues ressurected Listen to samples

Concerto for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 85

Edward Elgar (1857-1934)

Adagio – Moderato

Allegro molto

Adagio

Allegro ma non troppo

The renaissance of English music in the twentieth-century began at its turn with the revelation of Elgar’s ‘Enigma’ Variations, a work soon taken up by the greatest conductors of the time and of all nationalities. In the two following decades, Elgar composed oratorios, symphonies and concertos but only at the end of this period, in the last of his large scale works, this Cello Concerto, did he create another which also earned its place, if more gradually, as a well-loved item in the permanent international repertoire. It was, effectively, Elgar’s swansong. Composed in 1919, it was first played by Felix Salmond at the Queen’s Hall, London, with Elgar conducting, on October 26 of the year.

Although cast in four main sections, in contrast to the three movement of the earlier Violin Concerto, the Cello Concerto is a leaner and more concise score. Here, Elgar, self-taught but wise in orchestral experience, successfully projects the solo cello line in clear relief against an orchestral background of unusual refinement and stripped of all inessentials.

The Concerto begins with a brief recitative-like introduction by the solo cello, leading into the first subject of the first movement proper, a Moderato in nine-eight time. Announced by the violas, it moves like a winding path in autumnal moods. It passes to the solo cello and then to an orchestral tutti before this opening section is rounded off by its return to the solo instrument. Clarinet and bassoons then introduce a second them, which, counterpointed by the solo cello, the violins continue. This then, in Tovey’s well-chosen word, blossoms into the major mode, before reverting to the minor and leading to a recapitulation of the opening section of the movement.

Cello recitative, anticipations of the succeeding scherzo, and a brief cadenza lead into the common-time Allegro molto, a kind of nimble moto perpetuo in E minor, with a contrasted second idea beginning in the remoteness of E Flat major. The music soon reverts to E minor and the initial idea, with the second theme reappearing in G major before the swiftly scurrying coda.

The slow movement unfolds like a prayer, led by the solo cello. I B flat major and three-eight time, it comes to rest on the dominant (F major). This leads into B flat minor for a false start to the finale, an introduction soon swerving into E minor for  another noble recitative and brief cadenza. They lead to the resolute announcement of the main subject of the final Allegro, ma non troppo (E minor, two-four time) by the solo cello to an off-beat accompaniment. An orchestral tutti leads to a more wayward second idea. Resourceful development, in which the initial them recurs rondo-like and engenders a powerful climax, is followed by a chromatic episode, (Poco piu lento, common-time) of deep poignancy. It subsides into a recall of the second phrase of the slow movement, and a final glance at the opening recitative of the Concerto. After which, the main subject supplies a brisk and brusque coda.

With hindsight, it is possible to read into the stately sorrow of the Cello Concerto, and particularly its penultimate episode, Elgar’s farewell to a former world, the more prosperous and leisurely Edwardian era he knew before the first world war. With the death of Lady Elgar in 1920, Elgar lost his creative mainspring, so that the Cello Concerto was indeed a valediction: certainly, he wrote little of real consequence after it.

Programme Note c Felix Aprahamian, 1983

Dvorák: Cello Concerto, Op. 104

This is a supreme classic of the gramophone catalogue. It is a glorious disc, representing Rostropovich at his peak. The Berlin Philharmonic and Karajan are on top form as well. From the rapt opening of the Dvorak concerto, Karajan and his band create the most wonderful atmosphere for the soloist to play in. Dvorak's Cello concerto is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, work for the cello in the concerto repertoire. Rostropvich's magnificently full tone is perfect for this work. There is hardly anything you could criticise about the disc. The Dvorak is full of passion, fire, lyricism you could wish for, but Rostropvich doesn't pull out all the stops. He keeps certain degrees of fire in reserve for the really big moments. The dialog between the soloist and orchstra are unmatched in its chamber-like quality. It's a give-and-take performance, and what a performance! This particular recording of the Rococo Variations is unsurpassed. It has so much wit, panache, elegance, and the addition of Karajan being a master Tchaikovskian helps enormously. The playing matches the beauty and elegance and the Rustic charm of this piece fully with the soloist. This piece is pretty difficult to play, as there are many technical difficulties which surround the soloist, but Rostropovich, with his rich palette of tone colours, make the piece sound easy, very easy. My favouite in the Variations has to be the Finale, where Rostropovich finally pulls out all his powers and lets rip. The way he 'talks' with the orchestra is unmatched in its imaginativeness. All the parties involved really give the impression that they are really having fun, which in turn gives the listener the same impression. A most joyful way to end a glorious disc. I realise that I have been pretty indulgent with my use of superlatives, but I am lost for words, really. It really is a great disc, whose reputation is for once not exaggerated. If you don't have this CD right now, you should get a copy immediately.--P. Rah "Prahcello" Listen to samples

Favourite Cello Concertos

During her far-too-brief career, cellist Jacqueline du Pré exhibited an almost oracular power of communication. Her performances bristled with the kind of brilliant electricity that could change lives and convert listeners to a lifelong love of music. Happily, it's possible to experience a sense of that power from the recordings du Pré completed before multiple sclerosis halted her career as a performer in the early 1970s. This set provides a splendid portrait--at bargain price--of du Pré's unmistakable personality: the astonishingly original yet convincing phrasing, raw energy, and ability to make her instrument sound uncannily like a human voice (du Pré was after all a favored student of Mstislav Rostropovich). Her rendition of Haydn's Concerto in C is clearly cast in a romantic--and nowadays perhaps unfashionable--mold, yet du Pré's big, bold tone carries the musical line forward with exhilarating presence. It's a demeanor that proves especially reassuring for the quirkily mercurial inventions of Boccherini. Yet du Pré most indelibly leaves her signature on the work that became her hallmark, Edward Elgar's E Minor Concerto, grafting a deeply personal level of expression onto the score's rich post-World War I melancholy. In the Schumann, du Pré makes an eloquently passionate protagonist. A similar sense of excitement is to be heard in Dvorák's Concerto--performed near the end of her career--above all in the flame of inspiration she evidently sparks from the orchestra in the serene close of its slow movement. This is a supremely rewarding collection for the beginner and aficionado alike. --Thomas May Listen to samples

Cello Concerto in B minor Opus 104

Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904)



The World famous Czech composer was born in the outskist of Prague into the music Coving family of village butcher. He was as customary educated by the church organist and lead the village Brassband. His numorous Slavonik Dances were very popular not only in Czechoscovak but also throughout Europe and America. He became Professor & Director of the Czech National Conservatory. Cambridge Universary conferred the rare Mus. D. on him before be sailed across the Atlantic to direct the American National Academy of Music 1893-1895. He composed the world master works “New World” Symphony and the F major op. 96 String Quartet. White Theoi he met Victor Herbert the American cellist compose who urged Dvorak to write a cello Concerto.

Dvorak Cello concerto begin with the long Tutti introduction. The cello repeated the Subject and lead to the 2^nd theme in the usual “Sonata Form” with the long cadenza before ending.

2^nd movement is as lovely as the Adagio in the “New World” Symphony. Clarinets was he employed in place of Cadenza. The final 2^nd movement.

Rachmaninov: Concerto No.2/Rhapsody On A Theme Of Paganini

This is one of the finest performance and recording of these pieces available. Gary Graffman shows his brilliant talent in these interpretations of Rachmaninoff. Far too many think that speed is critical in performing specific passages when in fact patience is required. One may have the skill to play all the notes but lack the talent to perform the music. Graffman performs with nuance and subtlety as well as skill and decision in bringing the souls of these pieces to life.

Highly recommended. (You'll throw your other recordings away after hearing this!) --Rob Smout Listen to samples

Rachmaninoff: Piano Concertos No. 2 & 3

Byron Janis' celebrated recordings of these two concertos have never sounded better than in this new remastering by Mercury's Wilma Cozart Fine. Talk about recordings usually focuses on the artists and composers, and rightly so, but there are some people in the industry whose names you should know, producers and engineers whose work is as artistically excellent as the performers they record. During the late 50s and early 60s the Fines, husband and wife, created a catalog of recordings, which, when all is said and done, is probably title for title the finest in existence. There isn't a single one that isn't worth hearing, and some, like this one, belong in every collection. --David Hurwitz Listen to samples

Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1; Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2 [Hybrid SACD]

Both the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto #1 and the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto #2 are two of my all-time favorite Romantic piano concertos. Van Cliburn's performance is historic making (he was the 1st American to take the Gold Medal in the first Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1958). His playing is absolutely brilliant in musicianship, tone, and in capturing the different moods of the piece. This is my favorite performance of this concerto. My second favorite would be that of Martha Argerich's recording in 1972 w/ Charles Dutoit as the conductor.

Equally outstanding is the Rachmaninoff. From the somber and dramatic beginning of the first movement leading to the climactic build-up at the end, Cliburn captures the different moods and dynamics of the work brilliantly. (It's hard to express this in words). The second movement is very touching and the tone in Cliburn's playing is masterful. Van Cliburn's performance rivals that of any other pianist (Artur Rubinstein, Lang Lang, Garrick Ohlsson, etc.)

For other brilliant recordings of the Tchaikovsky piano concerto, I would recommend the following:

Martha Argerich (Deutsch Grammophon) 1971 w/ Charles Dutoit (conductor)
Barry Douglas (RCA Victor Red Seal) w/ Leonard Slatkin (conductor)
Garrick Ohlsson (Hanssler) 1997 (this is also coupled w/ Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto #2)

For another outstanding recording of the Rachmaninoff, I would highly recommend
Jeno Jando's recording (1988, Naxos label)
Garrick Ohlsson (1997, Hanssler label)

One great advantage of this CD is its low price and its excellent sound quality in the SACD format. Highly recommended!! --moviemusicbuff Listen to samples

PIANO CONCERTO IN G MAJOR

Marrice Ravel (1875 - 1937)

Maurice Ravel is another French composer, of Basque descent on his mother side, whose family moved to Paris when he was three months old. He entered the Conservatoire in 1889 to study the piano with Beriot and composition with Gabriel Faure. From his earliest works, composed in the late teens, his maturity of style and use of unorthodox harmonies were regarded with suspicion by the academics of the day, and he was repeatedly denied the highest award in the Prix de Rome. The last occasion was in 1905, when his elimination at the preliminary stage caused such an uproar that the director of the Conservatoire was forced to resign. He is today best known for the inescapable Bolero, a piece for orchestra without music, as he himself described.

The Piano Concerto in G major, on which the composer worked for two years, was completed in time for the Festival Ravel at the Salle Pleyel, Paris, and first played there January 14, 1932, with publication the same year. The composer conducted the premiere, with Marguerite Long as soloist, to whom the concerto is dedicated. There are three movements: Allegramente, Adagio assai and Presto. Ravel himself called this concerto the complete expression of his own development as a composer, and stated that he had put the best of himself into the music.

Ravel once called his G major Concerto a concerto in the strict sense, written in the spirit of Mozart and Saint-Saens. He added, less paradoxically, “I believe that a concerto can be gay and brilliant, and that there is no necessity for it to aim at profundity or big dramatic effects. It has been said that the concertos of some great classical composers were written not for but against the piano, and I think that this criticism is quite justified.”

I. Allegramente. The gossamer lightness of the opening, with its sparky little tune for piccolo solo against shimmering bitonal arpeggios for the piano, soft string tremolos, pizzicatos, and a scarcely audible roll of the side drum, is an effect to remember. Hardly has the piccolo introduced the melody when it is taken up by a glittering trumpet solo, and it returns again to cap the climax of the brilliant first movement.

II. Adagio assai. The slow movement begins with a long nocturne-like solo for unaccompanied piano. The ease with which the melody seems to flow may be misleading, for Ravel has told us that the constructed it very la laboriously, two bars at a time, taking the slow movement of Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet as a model.

III. Presto. The finale is a dazzling piece of virtuosity for the sololist with light-textured, witty orchestral accompaniment. The many fragments of American jazz idiom are easier to hear than the alleged rondo form of the finale. In any case, the entire conclusion flies at such supersonic speed that it seems to finish before it has started. Listen to samples

Bruch: The Complete Violin Concertos

It may well be that you've heard the adagio from Bruch's second concerto and thought it to be a wonderfully romantic piece, and you would be right. However it is, as far as Max Bruch's music is concerned, just the beginning. The adagio appassionata has a beautiful melody that will stay in your head all day. The wonderful solo part is backed by a strong and emotional performance from the orchestra and the piece is allowed to open at just the right pace. The romance,also on the second cd, continues the melodic trends that make Bruch one of the more under appreciated composers available. His love for the romantic melodies that make his music so beautiful is often seen by critics as a lack of complexity in the pieces but must, by genuine music lovers, be seen as something for which we should be grateful. In memorandum is yet another piece to testify to this. Both the virtually unknown concertos are also superb successes-very tuneful and cause the kind of stirring often felt when listening to Beethoven. This set should be in everybodies collection, for it takes a hard soul not to enjoy them. If, like me you enjoy a moment alone with your thoughts, to close you're eyes and wonder wistfully at the pleasures of life, then this cd will warm your heart. --Nick Listen to Samples

Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E minor; Bruch: Violin Concerto #1; Itzhak Perlman

In addition to the bargain price of this 1990 recording the music lover will find two of the more solid performances of two very popular and demanding violin concertos from the vast repertoire available. Itzhak Perlman is in top form for these performances, marrying his impeccable technique with the poetry inherent in his approach to the scores. The Violin Concerto No.1 in G minor, Op. 26 by Max Bruch has become one of Perlman's signature pieces and for good reason. He tosses off this stagy work with such grace that it becomes more than most violinists are capable of finding in the score. It is a jewel of a performance. The Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64 by Felix Mendelssohn has been a staple in the repertoire since its composition in 1844-45 and the hurdles of the first movement cadenza have threatened even the most daunting of violinists. The passagework is extraordinarily demanding technically, yet even more difficult is finding the poetry inherent in the lines echoed later in the orchestra. Some soloists (including Joshua Bell) may find more lightness and delicacy in the execution, but few can match Perlman's dexterity and emotional sweep. The Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, still one of the finest orchestras, is beautifully conducted by Bernard Haitink. The balance between orchestra and soloist is far more than just technical aplomb between the artists and engineers: these performances are examples of perfect communication between soloist and conductor and orchestra, making this recording one of the strongest available today. Grady Harp, October 06 --Grady Harp Listen to Samples

Violin Concerto No.1, G Minor, Opus 26

Max Bruch (1838 – 1920)

1. Prelude (Allegro Moderato) 2. Adagio 3. Finale (Allegro Enegico)

If one compares it with the other famous concertos of the nineteenth century, one is amazed at its unconventional overall form. True to radition, it had three movements, but in terms of sheer musical material, there is as much in the finale as in the two other movement s put together, and although the conventional fast-slow-fast sequence is retained, the surprising fact is that sonata form is used for all three movements, while tradition calls for ternary song form for the slow movement and (usually) a rondo for the finale. Bruch was naturally aware of this and, not without reason, first chose the title “Fantasy” for the work. However, he allowed Joachim to persuade him that “Concerto” was a more effective title.
The additional title “Prelude” (Vorspiel) was retained for the opening Allegro. The absence of any marked division between the movements, after the example of the Mendelssohn Concerto, emphasises the “Fantasy” character as do the recapitulations in the first and second movements, which are clearly abbreviated and tuned into transitions. The Hun-garian-style theme of the finale, which has a close affinity with that of Brahm’s Violin Concerto, may have been provided by Joachim, who was Hunarian born.
Max Bruch was born in Cologne in 1838 and died in 1920 in Berlin, where he was professor of composition and vicepresident of the Music Academy. He is known today almost exclusively for his Violin Concerto in G minor, which belongs with the violin concertos of Beethoven. Meldelssohn, Brahms, and Tchaikovsky to the select repertory of nine-teenth-century violin works. His great choral works, which were very widely performed in the late nineteenth century and esteemed above those of Brahms, his many concertos and concert pieces, the chamber music, and a great many songs all seem to have faded.
The Violin Concerto in G minor, Op.26 was not only Bruch’s first instrumental concerto, but his first big orchestral work in general. Since he had thus far published only vocal music, it is not surprising that he had considerable difficulty with the composition and spent much time making alterations and refinements before he was finally satisfied with the result. The sketches go back to 1864, and the first performance was given in Koblenz on April 24,1866. After this, however, Bruch withdrew the work and revised it thoroughly, seeking advice on the writing of the violin part from many musicians, both composers and violinists. In particular he conculted Joseph Joachim, to whom the concerto was finally dedicated and who gave the first performance in the definitive version in Bremen on January 7, 1868. In a letter to his publisher Simrock in 1872, Bruch wrote: “…The composition of violin concertos is a cursed difficulty business…From 1864 to 1868, I took my concerto to pieces at least half a dozen times, and conferred with violinists before it finally achieved the form in which it is now generally known, and played everywhere.”
The concerto became widely popular very quickly, and although at first Bruch was vastly delighted with its success, he soon came to execrate all violinists who played only his “universal” concerto and neglected his other violin works. He even sent in a letter to the musicologist Philipp Spitta in the winter of 1893 some satirical epigrams in the manner of Goethe and Schiller. One of them, headed “Prohibition by Order of the Polica, concerning M.B.’s first Concerto, “reads: “Since recently the astounding eventuality has come to pass/ That violins have of their own accord, been playing the First Concerto We make known with all possible haste, to reassure fearful soues/ That we hereby sternly prohibit the said concerto.”
The reason for the continuing popularity of this G minor work lies largely in the fact that it was the first concerto and also that both sentiment (in slow movement) and virtuosity (in the finale) were fully exploited.

Mozart: Horn Concertos

For this recording, Lowell Greer himself reconstructed a natural horn of the type that was invented during Mozart's later years and was generally played in orchestras at the beginning of the nineteenth century. He is pictured holding the horn in the booklet, and the pride in his eyes is only natural, for this is a wonderful-sounding instrument that seems ideal for playing Mozart's playfully beautiful Horn Concertos. Greer and the Philharmonia Baroque play in a relatively straightforward, perhaps even somewhat naive manner, but this is not necessarily a criticism: At all events, the disc can give enormous listening pleasure (as is presumably evidenced by the fact that I have often heard it being played on German radio stations). The engineering puts the horn on the left of proceedings and in the centre of attention, and it is truly wonderful to listen to this glorious sound. Musicologically, I suspect that the Sony Vivarte recording made by Ab Koster and the Canadian Tafelmusik ensemble is a little more refined (and the music has definitely been reconstructed in a more accurate manner there); but nonetheless, the Harmonia Mundi recording is a true classic and is well worth the listening to. --Leslie Richford Read more.

Mozart: Horn Concerto No.1-4

As a music teacher and hornist who has performed all of the Mozart horn concertos at one time or another, I am probably more picky about recordings of these works than anything else. Everyone always upholds the Dennis Brain recordings as the best, and rightly so. Brain was the all-time master of the horn, period. The problem is that he died young and his Mozart recordings were made in the 1950s. Yes, the CD has been remastered and sounds quite good, but there's only so much a producer can do.

That's why one recording of these masterpieces simply will not do.

This CD by Barry Tuckwell most assuredly needs to be the "other" recording one has in their collection. Tuckwell with his gorgeous tone, fantastic range, and excellent lip trills is easily the best hornist in the past few decades. He plays each concerto with spirit and aggression in contrast to Brain's more controlled and leisurely interpretation. His cadenzas are more modern and showy yet maintain classical style and taste. The ASMF provides perfect, well-balanced accompaniment with, interestingly enough, a harpsicord playing basso continuo underneath the orchestra (a feature that may or may not have been used when Mozart first debuted these concertos).

Finally, the original recordings are modern enough that when digitally remastered, they sound clear as a bell. So yes, buy the Brain recording, he is the best hornist of all time. But this recording by Tuckwell is marvellous and should be immediately added to one's collection. Both recordings are correct, both are beautiful, but both are different. Therefore, both are needed. Buy it now.

Concerto For Horn & Orchestra No.4 In E Flat Major, K.495 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

Mozart wrote four concertos for horn and all were dedicates to Leitgeb, who remained a friend of Mozart until his death. Leitgeb's name appears in Mozart's last letter.

As a leading orchestra horn player, Leitgeb asked Mozart to write concertos for him from time to time, and succeeded in persuading him to write four pieces over Mozart's last 10 years.

All these concertos are similar in nature, indicating that Mozart was well versed in Leitgeb's taste.

"Concerto for horn & Orchestra No.4" may be inferior to No.3 in terms of the strong characteristic of the theme and compositional structure which is very appealing in No.3, like the piano concertos, but it is nonetheless an excellent piece, showing the spontaneous skill of Mozart in his mature period. In addition, Concerto No.4 requires a fairly elaborate technique for horn, considering the time in which it was written, by adopting a chromatic playing of rendition.

Bach, Vivaldi, Marcello: Concerti Italiani

"Concept" discs get a bad name, but here's one that works. Alessandrini has come up with the idea of recording the original Venetian concertos that served as the basis for well-known adaptations by Bach. An added twist is his orchestration of Bach's original piece for harpsichord, the Italian Concerto, in the style of the Italian masters whose works served as Bach's models. Alessandrini also supplies the missing violin solo part for Benedetto Marcello's Concerto on this disc. It all comes off so well because the works here are wonderful examples of their genre and because of the marvelous playing of the expert period instrument group, Concerto Italiano, whose playing here is beyond praise. Highlights abound: the surprising staccato movements of the Marcello Violin Concerto, the exquisite playing of oboe soloist Andrea Mion in brother Alessandro Marcello's Oboe Concerto, the zippy Vivaldi Op. 3 No. 11 Concerto for four violins, and the fantasy-filled version of Vivaldi's "La Notte" Flute Concerto among them. A disc full of endless delights. --Dan Davis Buy it now.

Concerto For Oboe And Strings In C Minor - Alessandro Marcello

Venice, once a leading trade centre of the Mediterranean Sea, was also a musical centre. Operatic activities were particularly advanced there, with the dawning of the Reneissance. In the 18th century, it was in Venice that the baroque ensemble represented by Vivaldi's instrumental pieces reached its zenith. Albinoni and the Marcello brothers were also among the most prominent Venecian musicians in this period. "Concerto for Oboe and strings in C minor" was written by older Marcello, Alessandro.

The piece was used in an Italian film, "Love in Venice," directed by Enrico Maria Salerno in 1970, during the sequence where the protagonist, an oboe player, suffering from an incurable disease, made perhaps his last recording for a radio broadcast. This took place in Venice, a city full of tender memories for him, a man who had to part with his loving wife against his will.

Tis is one of the many classical masterpieces which became popular when used in films.

TORELLI : TRUMPET CONCERTOS

This bargain priced double CD is of 22 lively, joyfull trumpet concertos by the baroque composer Giuseppe Torelli played on modern instruments. There concerti are well worth a listen, but not on this recording. The soloist completely dominates the performance, Hammes is clearly a skilled trumpeter but is too loud to the point of pain, the listener feels pinned to the the wall. Not recommended. If you are interested in hearing how a baroque trumpet concerto should sound let me refer you to Naxos " The Art of the Baroque Trumpet, Vol 5, an Italian Concert". It is an excellent CD. (Reviewed by Ross Kennett) See more.