July 2018: Recordings
July 2018; Vol. 10, No. 4
Claude Debussy: ÉtudesÉlodie Vignon, pianoCypres Records CYP1678[Total Time 63:18]cypres-records.com French pianist Élodie Vignon’s first recording focuses on Debussy’s twelve études, paired with twelve new poems (titled after each étude) by Belgian poet Lucien Noullez. These études, dedicated to Frédéric Chopin, reveal Debussy’s personal and profound...
January 2018: First Looks: Recordings
January 2018; Vol. 10, No. 1
Nyman: Complete Piano Music Jeroen van Veen, piano Brilliant Classics 95112 [Total Time 1:50:45] brilliantclassics.com Prolific Dutch pianist-composer Jeroen van Veen presents all of Michael Nyman’s existing solo piano music. Many will recognize Nyman (b. 1944) as composer of the soundtrack for the 1993 award-winning...
DIGITAL-ONLY CONTENT: Music for the Intermediate Pianist by Eight Women Composers
January 2018; Vol. 10, No. 1
Editor’s note: This is a companion piece to the January/February 2018 article, “Women of exceptional accomplishment: Eight women composers” by Teresa Rupp, found here. Anyone who thinks there is a lack of piano music by women composers from previous centuries hasn’t looked too hard. Take the...
Summer 2019: Recordings
Summer 2019; Vol. 11, No. 3
D’Albert was a prized student of Liszt and his piano transcriptions of Bach’s organ works bear the influence of his master. Unlike some transcribers, who sought to glorify Bach by embellishing his works in grandeur, both Liszt and d’Albert stayed largely reverent to the original...
Spring 2019: Recordings
Spring 2019; Vol. 11, No. 2
The two leading piano manufacturers in Paris during Chopin’s lifetime were Érard and Pleyel. Chopin preferred Pleyel’s instruments, praising what he heard as a more compelling cantabile, and subtler tonal palette. The 1847 Pleyel here possesses remarkable clarity, due in part to its quick decay...
January 2019: Recordings
January 2019; Vol. 11, No. 1
Mendelssohn’s chamber works are musical conversations of supreme sophistication. Artymiw and Rosen offer a captivating recording of the composer’s complete works for cello and piano, and their impressive virtuosity ensures that every line carries sufficient weight and interest to keep the listener engaged. The performance...
Autumn 2019: Recordings
Autumn 2019; Vol. 11, No. 4
FARRENC: VARIATIONS FOR PIANOBiliana Tzinlikova, pianoPaladino Music PMR 0088[Total Time: 53:02]www.paladino.at This is a significant new recording of Louise Farrenc’s piano works. The program consists of four sets of variations, all written in the 1830s, including Air russe varié (on the composer’s own theme), one on...
Winter 2020: Recordings
Winter 2020; Vol. 11, No. 5
ROMANCE:THE PIANO MUSIC OF CLARA SCHUMANNIsata Kanneh-Mason, pianoDecca[Total Time 76:00]www.deccaclassics.com Contributing to this year’s bicentennial celebration of Clara Schumann’s birth is the debut album of the twenty-three-year-old British pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason. In 2015, while a student at the Royal Academy of Music, Kanneh-Mason, along with five...
Spring 2021: First Looks: Recordings
Spring 2021; Vol. 13, No. 1
E PLURIBUS UNUMLiza Stepanova, PianoNavona NV6300[Total Time: 55:23]navonarecords.com E Pluribus Unum is an extraordinary compendium of works by nine American composers with immigrant backgrounds, including five women. Perhaps the most direct representation of immigrants’ journeys is provided by Venezuelan-American composer Reinaldo Moya, whose “The Way North” consists of supremely evocative vignettes...
Summer 2021: First Looks: Recordings
Summer 2021; Vol. 13, No. 2
GABRIEL FAURÉ: LES 13 BARCAROLLES Namji Kim, Piano Centaur CRC 3820 [Total Time: 53:49] centaurrecords.com Gabriel Fauré’s thirteen Barcarolles were composed between 1882 and 1921, and they present an overview of the evolution of his style. The language of the early Barcarolles conforms to nineteenth-century...
Winter 2021: First Looks: Recordings
Winter 2021; Vol. 12, No. 5
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN: THE COMPLETE PIANO SONATAS PLAYED ON PERIOD INSTRUMENTS Paul Badura-Skoda, fortepianoArcana A203 | 9 CDs[Total Time: 10:06:09]OUTHERE-MUSIC.COM As deeply insightful and brilliant Badura-Skoda expectedly is in this collection of reissues recorded between 1978 and 1989, perhaps the principal interest here is the use of seven of the pianist’s own...