Featured

Playlists, albums, articles & videos from our Rhapsody music experts.

Classical Round-Up: Late Summer 2011

Classical Roundup, August 2011

by Nate Cavalieri

Although notable new classical releases include a collection from American wunderkind composer Nico Muhly and a lovely early opera from Elizabeth Kenny, the 200th birthday of a 19th-century piano virtuoso, composer and alleged lady-killer has been dominating recent classical programming. Franz Liszt's dabbling in the dark side is the focal point of a grandstanding recording from Georgian prodigy Khatia Buniatishvili, but it's Nelson Freire's passionate program that frames the composer most eloquently. A lesser anniversary is also celebrated with Murray Perahia's presentation of Bach concerti (Perahia caused quite a flutter by recording these on a modern grand piano not the harpsichord a decade ago). Other notable releases include the Beethoven debut of Argentine pianist Ingrid Fliter and a set of Baroque works for cello by Lynn Harrell. Too stuffy for you? Cue up the accessible classical crossover upstarts 2Cellos as they dabble with Guns N' Roses.

Murray Perahia - Bach Piano Concertos

Murray Perahia

Though there's still much debate on whether to perform Bach keyboard works on period instruments or modern instruments, Murray Perahia was key in popularizing Bach performances on the modern grand piano. This reissue marks a decade since his performances of Bach concerti with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields caused a stir. These recordings are still remarkable for their clean, decidedly Baroque restraint -- nothing too syrupy, too loud, or too inappropriately dynamic. Dispassionate? Hardly. Listen for the embellishments, where the pianist shows his colorful passion for the music.

Venus and Adonis

Elizabeth Kenny

Although it may not have the power of other early opera, there's good reason that John Blow's little 1683 work Venus & Adonis is remarkable: not only have musicologists agreed that it's likely the first all-sung English opera, research also suggests that the libretto -- a tale of court intrigue and sexual politics -- was written by a woman, Anne Kingsmill. If lutenist Elizabeth Kenny's reading of the score lacks some of the richness that might intrigue contemporary ears, it's more than made up for with the serene sensuality of the lovers, sung by Sophie Daneman and Roderick Williams.

Muhly: Seeing Is Believing

Various Artists

2cellos

2Cellos

Liszt: Harmonies du Soir

Nelson Freire

Nelson Freire might be the greatest -- or at least most lauded -- living Liszt ambassador; this imaginative program brilliantly celebrates the composer's 200th birthday. There's a fiery authority to these performances, from the brisk, lyrical adrenaline of the opening Waldesrauschen No. 1 to the highly dramatic Valse Oubliée. Still, everything gets a thorough and critical examination, evident in the elastic tempos and aggressive lower registers of the Hungarian Rhapsody No. 3. Brilliant, bombastic and inspired, this inspires awe for both the material and its interpreter.

Franz Liszt

Khatia Buniatishvili

With an emotional, explosive program set on exploring Franz Liszt's gothic quarters, 24-year old Georgian prodigy Khatia Buniatishvili goes deep into the composer's dark side: a suggestive reading of the demanding "Sonata in B Minor" (which supposedly used the Faust libretto as its inspiration) get us started. A diabolically playful "Mephistiso Waltz" serves as the lynchpin here: it's more than a bit showy, but the playing leaves no question as to her ability. Liszt's transcriptions of Bach's "Prelude and Fugue in A Minor" conclude the brooding set.

Beethoven: Sonatas

Ingrid Fliter

Even though Fliter is more comfortable with the impressionistic territory of Chopin, the Argentinean pianist approaches these three monumental, turbulent sonatas -- the so-called "Pathetique," "Appassionata" and "Tempest" -- with due reverence and moments of bristling intensity. The dynamic demands of the material aren't her strong suit (somehow she sounds as if she's shrugging through the famously emotional Adagio movement of the C minor), but the power she exhibits on the final movement of the "Pathetique" shows promise.

The Known Unknowns

Lynn Harrell

With the Angeli Ensemble, American cellist Lynn Harrell's cello concerti collection brings together relatively popular pieces with some obscure baroque and early Classical period curiosities. Opening with CPE Bach's "Concerto in A Major" and moving to Haydn's "Concerto in C Major" (a piece which was "discovered" in 1960 and has become a standard piece of pedagogy for the instrument), Harrell's clean renderings are a great match for the material. The disc's most interesting stuff comes last, with a dozen of Couperin's diminutive "Pièces en Concert."