Browsing: Romantic

Schubert: Architect Mathieu Gaudet, piano Analekta, 2023 Architect features Schubert’s Sonata in B major B. 575, the 2 Scherzi and Trio D. 593 and the Sonata in C minor D. 958. Gaudet continues to interpret Schubert masterfully—balancing lyricism and warmth with measure and sobriety. Sonata No. 9 D. 575, published posthumously, is interpreted in all four movements with vivid contrasts in sound and character. The Scherzo and the Allegro are exemplary in brilliance as well as composure, while the Andante is almost moving in intimacy and sweetness. These contrasts are also present in the 2 Scherzi. The first, reminiscent of…

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Schumann & Brahms Benjamin Grosvenor, piano Decca, 2023 One of the most original and gifted pianists of our time, Benjamin Grosvenor’s playing is marked by its unconventionality, the sudden and extreme changes of colour, a unique management of time. His extremely clear and limpid touch make him a true genius of contemporary piano, and these qualities come to light in an impressive way on this CD. There is always a light in Grosvenor’s interpretations. Even in a complex and sometimes twisted piece like Kreisleriana, which opens this recording, the young pianist manages to locate a clarity and positivity so rare…

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Brahms in Solitude Jarred Dunn, piano Self-published, 2023 This album’s 11 pieces create a well-planned trajectory through Brahms’s poetic music, and Jarred Dunn demonstrates a natural ability in performing this music. The album opens with three pieces from Klavierstücke Op. 118, perhaps the most well-known opus of Brahms’s late piano music. Dunn gives us a taste of Brahms’s various meditative styles: first, the dramatic and emotional Intermezzo in A minor; then, the lyrical Intermezzo in A major (the Brahms Intermezzo), beautifully played with interior lines of counterpoint; and ending with the foreboding, intense, chromatically colourful Intermezzo in E-flat minor. Two…

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Moongate Victor Anastacio, guitar; Philippe Charbonneau, bass; Colleen Leslie, flute Self-published, 2023 Moongate, the debut album by composer and acoustic guitarist Victor Anastacio, is a hidden gem. The work sounds deceptively simple at first. The titular Moongate, as well as Amethyst Sky and Northern Lights, are easy to digest: light and peaceful, with an emphasis on the play between Leslie’s disjunct flute melodies and Anastacio’s fingerpicking. Gathering Wind’s more staccato performance breathes energy into the album before the deep, slow notes of Charbonneau’s bass rein in the two treble instruments for a few compositions, creating a more melancholic experience. The…

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Néo-Romance Secret City Records, 2023 Alexandra Stréliski, piano and organ; Natalia Kotarba, violin; Fayçal Cheboub, viola; Julia Kotarba, cello; Pierre-Olivier Rioux, double-bass Although Néo-Romance plays with the romantic genre in inventive ways, the musical fidelity is overshadowed by a glaring audio quality issue. The works on this album are initially reminiscent of slow, meditative, romantic solo piano repertoire until The first kiss surprises the listener with the addition of cello and violin. These bring a great deal of emotional weight and dynamism to the album. In Air de famille, however, listeners may begin hearing the felt striking the piano’s strings…

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Around Baermann Maryse Legault, clarinet; Gili Loftus, fortepiano Leaf music, 2023 Upcoming clarinetist Maryse Legault is specialized in period instruments. She released her first album, Around Baermann, on the Leaf Music label. The album is “a love letter to the tumultuous music of the early nineteenth century,” she wrote on her website. According to Legault, the album is the culmination of years of research and a testimony of her unshakeable desire to perform recitals that feature period instruments. Pianist Gili Loftus, Legault’s friend and collaborator for over 10 years, has joined her on this recording, playing the fortepiano. The album…

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Toronto, March 29th, 2023 – The Toronto Mendelssohn Choir is delighted to announce their 2023/2024 season under the artistic  direction of Jean-Sébastien Vallée. Highlights of the upcoming season include two major choral  masterworks: Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, which features the TMChoir with a full orchestra at Roy  Thomson Hall, and Verdi’s haunting Requiem at both Koerner Hall and George Weston Recital Hall. In addition to these major performances, the TMChoir also returns with their annual holiday celebration,  the Festival of Carols, at Yorkminster Park Baptist Church. This season will also feature two performances with the Toronto Mendelssohn Singers, the TMChoir’s …

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The Handel Project / Handel: 3 Suites; Brahms: Handel Variations Seong-Jin Cho, piano Deutsche Grammophon, 2023 The new CD by pianist Seong-Jin Cho, winner of the 2015 Warsaw Chopin Competition, revolves around Handel. The disc contains three Suites by the composer; the Variations on a Theme by Handel, Op. 24, by Johannes Brahms; the Sarabande from the Suite in B-flat major, HWV 440; and the arrangement by Wilhelm Kempff of the Minuet from the Suite in B-flat major, HWV 434. The CD opens with the Adagio from the Suite in F major, HWV 427, which Cho interprets with balance in…

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Did anyone know that Pablo Casals had a kid brother who wrote him a concerto? Enrique Casals, 16 years younger, was a violinist and conductor. His cello concerto came to light three years ago and the enterprising Jan Vogler has made a captivating world premiere recording of it on Sony. It was sitting on my deck destined to be named album of the week when, as so often happens, an unforeseen astonishment dropped through the letterbox and took pride of place. Let’s not get all wokey and egalitarian about this: the best is, always and forever, the enemy of even the…

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Brian Harman : Madrigal – Celebration Prelude – premiere, commissioned by the TSO As the TSO celebrates its 100th anniversary, the premiere commissioned from Canadian Brian Harman provided a fitting regal tone to open the evening. The joyful fanfare of this tonal, contemporary work is light and uplifting. Harman counts among his influences Prof. Brian Cherney, of McGill, with whom he studied during his PhD degree in composition. The hall bubbled with enthusiasm as Harman took a bow on stage following the TSO performance. Jean-Guihen Queyras: cellist As an additional, rare treat, solo cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras performed two concerti. The…

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