Mstation Classical Reviews

Age of the Diva Albinoni Almost Christmas Arias, Hampson, Harnoncourt Bach Keyboard Concertos Bach Viola Bach, Barenboim Bach, Cantatas Bach, Concertos Bach, JS, Keyboard Works Bach, Mass in B Minor Bach, Mutter Bach, trio-sonatas Baroque Christmas Album Baroque Trumpet Bartok, Concertos Bartoli Bartoli, Opera Proibita Bax, Baroque Beethoven Piano Beethoven String Quartets Beethoven and Brahms Beethoven, piano Bella Donna: Courtly Love Belle Epoque Melodies Berlioz, Les Troyens Binchois, Dufay Boccherini, Cello Concertos Boxed Baroque Boyce, Eight Symphonies British Light Classics British Piano Concertos Brubeck, The Gates of Justice Bruch, Violin Concerto Callas Canteloube, Chants d'Auvergne Carols Chanticleer, Sound in Spirit Charpentier Charpentier, Lebegue Christmas 04 Christmas Vespers Contemporary and Medieval Copland Delius Der Rosenkavalier Dukachev - Beethoven, Prokofiev, Rachminov Elgar Elgar, Marches Elgar, The Enigma Variations Faure songs French Medieval Songs Fux Gounod, Faust Graham: Causon, Ravel, Debussy Great Ballets Grieg, Franck Handel Arias Handel, Deborah Handel, Messiah Handel, The Triumph ... Handel, Water Music DVD Hapsburg Music Haydn Haydn, Handel DVD's Herz Piano Jane Austen's Songbook Josefowicz Recital King's Singers La Fille Mal Gardee Lang Lang and Yo Yo Ma: Farewell Isabella and Chinese things Lauridsen Llibre Vermell Luci, Bartoli, and a dead diva Lully, Comedies-ballets, Phaeton Maerzmusik sampler Mahler Symphony No 7 Mahler, Berg Mantovani Matsudaira Medieval French Songs Mendelssohn Sacred Mendelssohn, Dvorak Messa di Gloria Michael Haydn Miles Davis ... sorta Monterverdi, Orfeo Monteverdi Vespers Monteverdi, Poppea Monteverdi, The Sacred Music 3 Monteverdi, Vivaldi, Handel Montiverdi Vespers Morricone Mozart Symphonies Mozart, Cosi fan tutte Mozart, Exsultate Jubilate Mozart, Mass in C Minor Mozart, symphonies 40, 41 Mozart: Die Zauberflote Mozart: the string quartets Mozrt Requiem Mutter Mozart New English Hymnal New RSS system and Feeds Nikolay Roslavets Peerson, Latin Motets Penguins March Pergolesi, La Serva Padrona Philip Glass, Symphonies 2 and 3 Poulenc concerto Proms Purcell - Dido and Aeneas Purcell Sonatas Purcell: Dido and Aeneas Rachmaninov, Piano Ramallah - Beethoven No. 5 Rameau, Les Paladins Reger, Bach and Telemann Variations Renaissance Organ Music Romantic Cello Concertos Romantic Violin Russian Album -Anna Netrebko Rutter Mass Sanctuary, the heart has its reasons Scarlatti, The complete Keyboard Sonatas Schubert and Mozart piano Schubert Ð Death and the Maiden Shostakovich Shostakovich and Schnittke, Cello Shostakovich/Josefowicz Sibelius String Quartets Sixteen: Ikon South American Baroque Stainer, The Crucifiction Sting does Dowland Strauss tone poem Takemitsu Tallis Tchaikovsky, Symphony No 5, Verdi, Sibelius The Kirov celebrates Nijinsky Toshiro Mayazumi Vaughan Williams Verdi View from a dark tunnel Virginal -Susann van Soldt Vivaldi Cello Vivaldi, Motezuma Vivaldi, Sacred Music Vivaldi: Dixit Dominus Von Otter Wagner, Das Rheingold Wagner, Gotterdammerung DVD Water Music, Music for the Royal Fireworks Weir, Gillian Weiss / Lindberg Lute Whitacre, Cloudburst Williams, Bingham: Mass von Weber, Chamber Music

Mon, 27 Feb 2006 Shostakovich Dmitri Shostakovich Piano Trio No. 1 in C minor, op.8 Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor, op. 67 Seven Romances on Verses by Alexander Blok, op. 127* CD, Warner Classics Beaux Arts Trio Daniel Hope, violin Antonio Meneses, cello Menahem Pressler, piano Joan Rodgers, soprano* Recorded in Auer Hall, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 8-12 July 2005 Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) is now regarded as one of the musical giants to emerge from the Soviet Union. His style is diverse and unique, ranging from the near-ÔcheesyÕ style use for film music (think ÔTea for TwoÕ), to some of the deepest and most powerfully emotive works of the 20th century reflecting the struggle of the Russian people and for which he was at times persecuted by the Soviet authorities (for example, his 4th Symphony). He was born in St. Petersburg and as a child revealed himself as a prodigy, both in piano and composition. In 1922 at the age of just 16 he was accepted into the Petrograd Conservatory, then headed by Alexander Glazunov. His first symphony was composed on his graduation and throughout his life composed a further fourteen. The composer Gustav Mahler was a major influence, and this can be seen through his use of a vocalist in the 13th symphony and, indeed, his Seven Romances on Verses by Alexander Blok. The first piano trio was composed in 1923 but was only published after ShostakovichÕs death. The work is dedicated to Tatyana Glivenko (for whom he had had an early love) and was first performed by Shostakovich and two of his friends who had apparently rehearsed in a cinema where their music had been used as an accompaniment for silent films. This element of film music may not have been conventional at the time, but can be believed. The work is a single movement, but covers several different characters, moods and styles, at times giving a glimmer of romantic film music as well as energy and drama. The second piano trio is now more widely played and well known. It was composed between 1943 and 1944 (during the second World War) and begins with unusual harmonics from the cello and ends with what has been described in the inlay cover as Òa gruesome dance of death; its quiet ending is the stillness of the mass graveÓ, and certainly reflects the composerÕs feelings confronted with the death and anguish that surrounded him. The Seven Romances were initially intended for the legendary cellist Rostropovich and his wife, the singer Galina Vishnevskaya, but the scoring soon expanded (although the instruments only play all together in the last movement). The work was composed after Shostakovich had a major heart attack in 1966. The Beaux Arts Trio are an American Ensemble, having won the prize of ÒMusic AmericaÕs Ensemble of the Year 1997,Ó and play throughout the CD with fantastic ensemble, variety of colour, intensity and are not afraid to make ÔnastyÕ sounds when required (which can be quite often when playing Shostakovich). Joan Rodgers seems to show an equal understanding of this music. This CD is ideal for any Shostakovich fans. (M.North) [] permanent link