German violinist Frank Peter Zimmerman realigns Stravinsky’s violin concerto in D wistfully as a late-romantic work, full of yearning for lost youth, homeland and confidence.
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Browsing: Lebrecht Weekly
Piotr Anderszewski on the cover of Bartok, Janacek, Szymanowski
Few pianists have given me greater pleasure over the years than the Polish-Hungarian lone wolf Piotr Anderszewski.
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In an hour-long work, the first two movements of Bruckner’s 7th Symphony take up forty minutes and can appear top-heavy. Haitink avoids the pitfall with a steady beat that is mitigated by lightness and touches of wit.
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This performance of Lutoslawski’s 1954 Concerto by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra is the most gripping in years.
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Album of the Year? There’s quite a few, from Vikingur Olaffson’s Goldberg Variations to Yuja Wang’s Rachmaninov concertos, to Semyon Bychkov Resurrection Symphony.
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Thomas Larcher is an Austrian of esoteric tendencies. Mystical to a fault, his latest collection consists of two solo vocal settings of enigmatic English texts by Nan Shepherd and W. G. Sebald.
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Nothing seemed to add up on my first encounter with Magdalena Kozena’s trawl through four sets of folk songs orchestrated by Bela Bartok, Luciano Berio, Maurice Ravel and the Spaniard Xavier Montsalvatge.
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Cover for Valentin Bibik: Complete Sonatas for Violin and Piano
Valentin Bibik’s sonatas reflect a world in transition and a composer who cannot decide which part of it to cling to – the Soviet past, the turbulent present, or a post-modern future.
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Lise Davidsen on the cover of Christmas From Norway on Decca Records
I cannot remember when I last listened to, let alone recommended, a starry Christmas album, but Lise Davidsen snapped at my Achilles heel.
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Bruce Liu posing for WAVES, on Deustche Garmmophon
The combination of Rameau, Alkan, and Ravel in Bruce Liu’s WAVES, on paper, looks wildly exciting. In performance, it is less so.
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