Reviews | PORTFOLIO

30 March 2025 | Jean-Charles Hoffelé | ARTAMAG' - Focus - Le disque du jour | LA RETROUVÉE

[...] Throughout the 1970s, Christine Walevska recorded a handful of LPs that revealed a remarkable temperament. I haven't forgotten her Saint-Saëns Concertos, incredibly virtuosic under the baton of Eliahu Inbal, as if exalted by the sheer energy that would also carry through an admirable Schumann Concerto. Philips had one of the major bow players of his generation, and all her recordings for the Dutch label were recently brought together in a beautiful little box set for the Japanese market. Emilio Pessina had access to the cellist's private archives: the record of two rare microgrooves ("Concerto de violoncello" released on the Brazilian label Sodira, the self-published LP "The Artistry of Christine Walevska") but above all a quantity of concert recordings which show the extent of her repertoire, from Bach to Jean Françaix, illustrating the chamber music part that Philips had ignored, preferring to focus on the virtuoso rather than the musician.

[...] perfect portrait of a major interpreter, finally rediscovered.

March 2025 | Luca Ciammarughi | Il Libero Professionista - Reloaded - N°32 p.128-129 | Recensioni CD

SERGIO FIORENTINO - THE COMPLETE SAGA ALBUM COLLECTION

Quella di Sergio Fiorentino è la storia di un pianista immenso, che, a causa di un incidente aereo e forse di un eccesso di umiltà nella gestione della propria carriera, rimase a lungo estraneo ai grandi circuiti del concertismo internazionale. Ritornato nelle grandi sale negli anno Novanta, poco prima della morte avvenuta nel 1998, il musicista napoletano è sempre più oggetto di una riscoperta che ha fatto ormai di lui una vera e propria leggenda. In questo box do 10 CD Rhine Classics, derivanti da un restauro certosino dei nastri originali degli LP SAGA, ascoltiamo Fiorentino fra la fine degli anni '50 e l'inizio dei '60, al culmine del proprio virtuosismo ma già maturo per affrontare con impressionante profondità, per esempio, l'integrale dei Nocturnes di Chopin. Vastissimo il repertorio, da Beethoven al Novecento, anche con orchestra. [LC]

21 March 2025 | Rob Cowan | GRAMOPHONE - Vol.109 April 2025 | Box-Set / Round-Up

Much that features in Rhine Classics’ set of Sergio Fiorentino’s Saga recordings (presented in facsimiles of their original LP sleeve designs) is also of interest, although I never recall seeing the complete Chopin Nocturnes – mostly taken at a broad pace and high in dramatic incident – on LP. These transfers are in the main good, although visited on occasion with residual vinyl surface noise.
Among the concertos included is Gershwin’s F major with the LPO under conductor/jazz violinist Hugo Rignold (who in his day was rated, fiddle-wise, alongside Stéphane Grappelli, Joe Venuti and Eddie South) where a second, previously unissued stereo version offers us a slow movement with different takes. Fiorentino and Rignold certainly capture the spirit of the piece, while Fiorentino goes all out to demonstrate the virtuoso elements in Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto, Liszt’s First (said to be in mono or ‘pseudo-stereo’ but clearly in crudely engineered genuine stereo), the Schumann Concerto and the Tchaikovsky First. Generally speaking, the solo works (including Chopin’s Waltzes and Preludes and much Liszt) are the most individual, performance-wise, Chopin’s second Prelude in A minor playing for an amazingly solemn 3'48" (the more ‘regular’ Maurizio Pollini on DG stretches to just 2'17"). I can’t trace a previous CD reissue of this material – certainly not a ‘Saga only’ Fiorentino collection – so we should be grateful to Rhine Classics for this well produced set.

9 March 2025 | Stephen Greenbank | MusicWeb International

Rhine Classics must be lauded in championing the recordings, live and studio, of the Italian pianist. Their Sergio Fiorentino edition now comprises five releases. Reviews of the previous releases can be found here (review ~ review ~ review ~ review), and they are all self-recommending. In this latest offering all the discs are presented in their Original Jackets. With splendid remasterings and excellent documentation, not to mention the photographic element, this all amounts to a very recommendable package.

A pleasure to have Fiorentino’s complete Saga Recordings under one roof [SG]

21 February 2025 | Rob Cowan | GRAMOPHONE - Vol.108 March 2025 | Box-Set / Round-Up

Another collection of archive CDs celebrates the considerable artistry and beautiful tone of the American cellist Christine Walevska, best known for her Philips recordings (a box, please, Eloquence?), especially of works by Saint-Saëns. The First Concerto also turns up in Rhine Classics’ Walevska collection ‘The Beauty & the Bow’, as does the Dvorák Concerto (two versions, one where we also hear Walevska interviewed by conductor André Vandernoot, the other under Carlos Païta), the Beethoven Triple with Henryk Szeryng and pianist Monique Duphil, Hindemith’s Third Concerto under Dean Dixon, William Schuman’s A Song of Orpheus with the distinguished violinist and quartet leader Henri Temianka conducting and a deeply moving account of Bloch’s Schelomo where Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt is on the rostrum. We also hear three Bach Cello Suites (Nos 1‑3), as well as duo pieces by Haydn, Brahms, Prokofiev (his Cello Sonata) and Chopin (his Introduction and Polonaise brillante). In her prime Walevska was one of those players who virtually became her instrument and I’m happy to report that in addition to some exceptional music-making, Rhine Classics’ collection is very well annotated (by Gary Lemco) and richly illustrated.

15 February 2025 | Jean-Michel Molkhou | PIANISTE N°151 - Cahier Critique / Disques

The reproduction of the original covers and a generously documented booklet will appeal to the most demanding collectors. Not to be missed!

[...] La reproduction des jaquettes originales et un livret généreusement documenté séduiront les collectioneurs les plus exigeantes. À ne pas manquer! [JMM]

9 February 2025 | Jean-Charles Hoffelé | ARTAMAG' - Focus - Le disque du jour | SAGA FIORENTINO

[...] these are the records of a young man to whom life played more than one trick, of an eminent pianist whose art was fortunately saved by a handful of admirers, and the constancy of Emilio Pessina who will have published so many of his rediscovered treasures.

30 January 2025 | Jonathan Woolf | MusicWeb International

Fiorentino’s complete Saga recordings of 1958-60 heard in excellent remasterings [JW]

16 January 2025 | Jonathan Woolf | MusicWeb International

The admirable cellist Christine Walevska traced over 50 years of performances and recordings. [JW]

[...] The broadcasts, rare LPs and other material in this box reveal a formidably equipped performer across the span of the repertoire. In those Philips discs she was paired with conductors Eliahu Inbal, Alexander Gibson, Edo de Waart and Kurt Redel for a tranche of concerto recordings, and there are a few examples of repertoire duplication – the Dvořák concerto and Schelomo for instance – but very little else. [...] an excellent performance of Pierre Sancan’s test piece Sonata of 1961. She catches precisely its taut, sullen but finally cheerful qualities. Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations are heard with the piano accompaniment of Robert Parris – lyrically impressive and dextrous. There’s also the first exposure of her playing of Bolognini’s Serenata del Gaucho (there are four altogether throughout the box), a spicy pizzicato-and-legato study played with tremendous brio. Pièce en forme de habanera is here too and was one of Maréchal’s favourite encore pieces. [...] Dvořák’s Concerto, heard complete this time, with the Orchestre national de France directed by Carlos Paita in 1976. The orchestra is immeasurably better than the one in Brussels eight years earlier. Walevska plays eloquently throughout and one can hear why Josef Suk was so attracted to her playing and invited her to perform in Prague. [...]

https://musicwebinternational.com/2025/01/christine-walevska-cello-the-beauty-and-the-bow-rhine-classics/

21 November 2024 | Stephen Greenbank | MusicWeb International

A worthy release of outstanding playing [SG]

https://musicwebinternational.com/2024/11/aaron-rosand-violin-in-memoriam-rhine-classics-2/

14 November 2024 | Jakub Puchalski | ICMA International Classical Music Awards - Nomination 2025

https://www.icma-info.com/icma-jury-nominates-374-releases-for-the-2025-awards-2/

11 November 2024 | Stephen Greenbank | MusicWeb International

Of limited interest to Kreisler collectors [SG]

https://musicwebinternational.com/2024/11/fritz-kreisler-violin-piano-american-portrait-rhine-classics/

20 October 2024  | Jean-Charles Hoffelé | ARTAMAG' - Focus - Le disque du jour | TOUT D'UN GRAND

http://www.artalinna.com/2024/10/20/tout-dun-grand-4

14 October 2024 | Jonathan Woolf | MusicWeb International

Live sonata performances from a Heifetz protégé who became his own man [JW]

https://musicwebinternational.com/2024/10/erick-friedman-violin-live-in-texas-rhine-classics-2/

 

RECOMMENDED / RECORDING OF THE MONTH Oct.2024

The vibrant, alluring art of arch-Romanticist, Aaron Rosand [JW]

https://musicwebinternational.com/2024/10/aaron-rosand-violin-in-memoriam-rhine-classics/

23 September 2024 | Jonathan Woolf | MusicWeb International

Strong, masculine playing from Berl Senofsky – along with some less than stellar performances [JW]

https://musicwebinternational.com/2024/09/berl-senofsky-violin-american-virtuoso-rhine-classics-2/ 

19 September 2024 | Stephen Greenbank | MusicWeb International

A pleasing addition to Friedman’s discography with these first CD releases [SG]

https://musicwebinternational.com/2024/09/erick-friedman-violin-live-in-texas-rhine-classics/

6 September 2024 | Rob Cowan | GRAMOPHONE - Vol.103 October 2024 | Box-Set / Round-Up

Violin aficionados will likely be aware of Aaron Rosand (1927-2019), whose many distinctive recordings include rarities such as Joachim’s Second Concerto in D minor ‘In the Hungarian Style’, which also turns up in Rhine Classics’ highly desirable live ‘In memoriam’ Rosand Collection, recorded in 1974 under Leo Driehuys. [...] Isaac Stern’s hegemony around American concert life is posited by Rhine Classics’ excellent annotator Gary Lemco as a possible reason, just as it was in the case of Aaron Rosand.

6 September 2024 | Rob Cowan | GRAMOPHONE - Vol.103 October 2024 | Replay - EDITOR’s CHOICE

A wonderful release that launches Berl Senofsky into the heady realms of collectable violin virtuosos.

https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/article/review-berl-senofsky-american-virtuoso

Septembre 2024 | Jean-Michel Molkhou | "Talents oubliés" | CLASSICA n°265 p.89 | ROSAND [CHOC - Exceptionnel]; SENOFSKY, VASILE, KREISLER [☆☆☆☆☆ - Coup de coeur]; FRIEDMAN [☆☆☆ - Bon]. 

22 August 2024 | Jonathan Woolf | MusicWeb International

A Romanian Paganini specialist whose career trailed away [JW]

https://musicwebinternational.com/2024/08/paganini-violin-concerto-2-caprices-rhine-classics/

#3/2024 (UK)
15 August 2024 | Stephen Greenbank | MusicWeb International

Although something of a mixed bag, there’s much to please the Senofsky admirer enshrined in these two discs [SG]

https://musicwebinternational.com/2024/08/berl-senofsky-violin-american-virtuoso-rhine-classics/

#2/2024 (UK)
25 July 2024 | Jonathan Woolf | MusicWeb International

The piano rolls are real but the concert is not what it says [JW]

https://musicwebinternational.com/2024/07/fritz-kreisler-violin-piano-american-project-rhine-classics/

#1/2024 (UK)
18 July 2024 | Stephen Greenbank | MusicWeb International

An exciting discovery [SG]

https://musicwebinternational.com/2024/07/paganini-violin-concerto-caprices-rhine-classics/

#10/2023 (US)

Nov/Dec 2023 | Jerry Dubins | FANFARE Magazine - Issue 47:2 | Henryk Szeryng - ReDiscovered

« Henryk Szeryng (1918–1988) having long been one of my most revered violinists, I thought I had a pretty good handle on his discographic legacy. I guess I didn’t, for four of the five recordings in this two-disc set are appearing here on CD for the first time. The only item not flagged as a “first” is the Ansermet-led Szymanowski concerto with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, recorded “live” (in mono) in Geneva’s Victoria Hall on October 9, 1963. Oddly, the Bach A-Minor Concerto, taped at the same concert, did not previously make it to CD. None of this is to say that Szeryng didn’t record all five of these works at different times, in different venues, and with different conductors and orchestras, many of which were issued on CD and can still be had. [...]

The highly informative album note by Fanfare’s own Gary Lemco is a valuable addition to this set. He describes in great detail the aspects of Szeryng’s bowing techniques and tone that made him one of two heirs apparent to the Franco-Belgian school of violin playing in the 20th century, the other being his exact contemporary, Arthur Grumiaux (1921–1986). [...]»

21 February 2023 | Stephen Greenbank | MusicWeb International | Christian Ferras (violin) à la mémoire d’un ange - rec. 1946-1971   «The title of this 5 CD dedicated to French violinist Christian Ferras is ‘à la mémoire d’un ange’. It’s the title Alban Berg gave to his Violin Concerto, a work Ferras performed many times, but it could also apply to the violinist himself. The set was issued to commemorate the 40th anniversary of his tragic death in September 1982. [...] This intriguing cache of live recordings makes a positive and welcome addition to the violinist’s already extensive discography. All is derived from well-preserved source material, and some applause has been retained to capture the atmosphere of the live event. The producer, Emilio Pessina, has provided an excellent biographical portrait of the artist in the accompanying booklet. »

19 January 2023 | Jonathan Woolf | MusicWeb International | Sergio Fiorentino (piano)
Early Live and Unissued Takes   «This single disc covers a period of some 15 years in Fiorentino’s career, delving right back to the Geneva International Music Competition in 1947 when he was still not quite 20. The acetates have been preserved in surprisingly good sound and show him in Bach and Chopin. [...] Rachmaninov’s Fourth Concerto [...] shows that Fiorentino had mastered questions of bravura and balance by this time and was already a leonine and imperturbable soloist. [...] Saga released a number of Fiorentino’s recordings under Pouishnoff’s name and here three are restored and properly attributed. The Mephisto Waltz forms part of Fiorentino’s dazzling Lisztian discography whilst the Polonaise-Fantaisie, and Impromptu No.4 (the Fantaisie-impromptu), reveal a combustible but splendidly proportioned and controlled rhetoric. Pouishnoff could simply not have managed this at his age and in his declining health. [...] Everything is heard in as fine a sound as can be imagined and there are useful biographical notes and photographic reproductions. It’s to Ernest Lumpe that we must turn for thanks for providing the material and to Emilio Pessina for his restorations. »

#05/2023 (USA)

☆☆☆☆☆ | 14 January 2023 | Gary Lemco | Audiophile Audition | Sergio Fiorentino, Piano – Early Live and Unissued Takes, 1947-1962  Producer and editor Emilio Pessina has compiled a series of diverse repertory performed by Italian piano master Sergio Fiorentino (1927-1998), the concerts culled from the collection of Ernst Lumpe. The various performances originate from venues including a live concert in Edinburgh, studio recordings from Hamburg and London, and previously unissued acetate 78s from Geneva’s Victoria Hall. Most happily, the sonic quality from the sources, whether acetates, vinyl, or original master tapes, has been excellently restored, and the electrifying spontaneity of Fiorentino’s playing proves irresistible. [...]  A disc well recommended. »

5 January 2023 | Stephen Greenbank | MusicWeb International | Jascha Heifetz (violin) The Legendary New York Concerts   «[...] Needless to say, Heifetz is on absolutely top form and his immaculate delivery is breathtaking. His silken tone and ravishing colours shine through at every stage. There’s striking contrasts made between the melancholic sojourns and the more rakish elements of the work. Kurtz is a wonderful conductor, offering sensitive and sympathetic support all the way. [...]  In this live inscription the playing is fresh and spontaneous, with heartfelt tenderness suffusing the slow movement. I particularly like the Turkish section in the finale which is more highly charged than most I’ve heard. [...] Rhine Classics’ 24bit 96 kHz remastering is definitely a sonic improvement on my old LP, though.

All told, this is a very desirable release. The booklet contains some excellent notes by Gary Lemco, and a few fascinating photos of the artist. Heifetz fans, of which I’m one, shouldn’t hesitate. »

4 January 2023 | Jonathan Woolf | MusicWeb International | Christian Ferras (violin)
à la mémoire d’un ange   «This 5-CD release commemorates the 40th anniversary of the death of Christian Ferras whose suicide at the age of 49 so impoverished the violin world. It contains works central to his repertoire but also includes nuggets such as extracts and early speeches from radio that round out a portrait of the artist. Indeed, the subtitle of the box, ‘à la mémoire d’un ange’, though drawn from Berg’s Concerto, is clearly meant, also, to apply to Ferras himself. 

As usual from this source, the track listing is laid out in exemplary clarity and the booklet notes complement the discs attractively. There is a considerable amount of live Ferras in the market at the moment but this one contains enough novelties and surprises to keep even Ferras’s most committed supporters happy. This is a fine salute to a much-lamented musician. »

6 December 2022 | Stephen Greenbank | MusicWeb International | Henryk Szeryng - reDiscovered   «Despite a substantial Szeryng discography, here are some more live airings, set down between 1962 and 1967, which further bolster the listings. For me, anything by Henryk Szeryng (1918-1988) is of interest. He was one of the twentieth century’s greatest violinists, a musical aristocrat with superb polished technique and a phenomenal intellect. [...] The recordings have been excellently restored. The Benjamin Lees Concerto is especially of interest to me, as I didn’t know the work at all.»

 

 November 2022 | Rob Cowan | GRAMOPHONE (pg.95) | REPLAY  | Rob Cowan's monthly survey of historic reissues and archive recordings  -  Heifetz in New York  « [...] possibly Heifetz’s most satisfying recorded performance of Beethoven Violin Concerto. »

 

 November 2022 | Rob Cowan | GRAMOPHONE (pg. 94-95) | REPLAY  | Rob Cowan's monthly survey of historic reissues and archive recordings  -  Commemorating Christian Ferras

November 2022 | Les trésors de Jean-Charles Hoffelé | CLASSICA n°247 | Christian Ferras (1933-1982) «[...] Rhine Classics publie un album de captations en concert toutes inédites au disque, dominées par sa plus étreignante gravure du Concerto "à la mémoire d'un ange" (Berg), enchàssé dans les parures élégiaques distillées par la baguette mahlérienne de Paul Kletzki, partition dont les abimes et la spiritualité valent, il le savait, pour autoportrait.»

1 November 2022 | Stephen Greenbank | MusicWeb International | Sergio Fiorentino - early live & unissued takes  Pianism of the finest order. | «[...] Bach’s Prelude & Fugue No 20 in A minor, BWV 889 (WTC II) is remarkable for its penetrating tone, clarity of articulation and expressive intimacy. Fiorentino intelligently structures the Chopin Fantasie, gradually moving from modest beginnings to high-octane intensity. In the central section he finds poetic serenity. Enthusiastic applause follows each of the items. [...] There’s no doubting that the 4th Concerto (Rachmaninoff) isn’t as memorable as its predecessors. Fiorentino captures the works elusive elements, probing its transient moods and making some success of the concerto as Michelangeli did. His virtuosity is flawless. [...] Liszt’s Mephisto Waltz is a reading of breathtaking brilliance and brimming over with diablerie. Chopin’s Polonaise-fantaisie in A-flat major, Op 61 is rhapsodic and improvisatory in Fiorentino’s hands with an underlying melancholic vein. The central section of the composer’s Fantasy Impromptu is poetically sculpted without resorting to sentimental excess. Chopin’s Tarantella is a dazzling tour-de-force, whilst the pianist’s own arrangement of Rachmaninoff’s Vocalise is soul-searching with a certain elegiac quality. [...] The excellent 24bit 96kHz remasterings by Emilio Pessina do Fiorentino’s memory proud.»

14 October 2022 | Stephen Greenbank | MusicWeb International | Ivry Gitlis plays Bach   «This year, 25 August to be precise, marked the centenary of the birth of Israeli violinist Ivry Gitlis (1922-2020). This latest issue from Rhine Classics commemorates that significant occasion. This is the third release from the label featuring radio broadcasts, live airings, original masters, 78s and LP recordings, splendidly restored by producer Emilio Pessina, which have significantly bolstered the artist’s discography. The added attraction of this newcomer is that it’s devoted exclusively to the composer J. S. Bach who’s music is notably absent in the previous releases. [...] Welcome is a complete discography of the violinist included in the booklet. Finally, the addition of some beautifully produced photographs adds to the allure. All told, this is a worthy tribute to a remarkable technician and distinguished interpreter.»

7 October 2022 | Jonathan Woolf | MusicWeb International | Heifetz - The legendary New York concerts  Heifetz live, spearheaded by the scintillating first broadcast of the Korngold Concerto. |  « [...] Rhine Classics’ 24bit 96 kHz remastering work is perfectly fine, and without blemish. I have to admit I don’t know which recording they have accessed - or whether they could have had access to the hall’s transcription discs themselves, which seems unlikely - but there we are. [...] Rhine reprints a perceptive New York Times review of the concert by Howard Klein and there are some attractive reproductions of Heifetz. I’d not seen the photograph of Michael Rabin’s score of the Conus, signed by Heifetz, before.»

5 October 2022 | Jonathan Woolf | MusicWeb International | Szeryng - ReDiscovered  Henryk Szeryng heard in (nearly) all previously unreleased broadcasts: bravura and eloquence. |  « [...] this programme apparently contains four performances new to CD; the only one that has been issued before is the Szymanowski Concerto. I’m in no position to doubt this, as Szeryng’s surviving corpus of off-air recordings is so large and seems to be getting larger by the week. This twofer begins, however, with Bartók’s Concerto in B major, in a Dutch performance of 1962. The Radio Filharmonisch Orkest under Willem van Otterloo provides the orchestral support. Szeryng was to record the work with Haitink and the Concertgebouw in 1970 so it’s clearly of some interest to hear him at the start of the decade playing with such clarity, directness, and warmth. [...]  This is apparently the first appearance of the première performance of Benjamin Lees’ concerto with Erich Leinsdorf directing the Boston Symphony in 1963. It’s the only work to be heard in stereo. [...] to hear the premiere is something of a privilege, not least because Szeryng is on record as having confessed it was the most difficult work that he played. There’s lyricism here but it’s guarded, with the first two movements, being essentially slow, leading the way for a taut, fast finale. Its rhetoric vaguely echoes Prokofiev but there are more granitic outbursts from Lees than Prokofiev would have sanctioned. Szeryng plays it with fearless bravura – punchy, pungent and refined when the occasion demands. One can almost feel him count the bars in the perilous finale.  [...] And so to the Brahms, recorded at the United Nations in 1967 with Wolfgang Sawallich and the Vienna Symphony. Szeryng takes broadly similar tempi to those he was to take when he recorded the work with Haitink and his consistency remained deeply impressive. [...] but the very best playing comes in the finale. Here Szeryng whips up a storm, tapering his phrase ends with joyful freedom, playing with caprice and spontaneous-sounding bravura. Just how spontaneous it was is doubtful but it sounds spontaneous and represents some of Szeryng’s best and most communicative Brahms playing I have heard. Do you need another Szeryng-Brahms - that was my initial question. Well, possibly you do and if you get this, you will also therefore get previously unreleased performances of high stature and eloquent intelligence. Good sound, too.»

#06/2022 (FR)

28 September 2022 | Jean-Michel Molkhou | Les grands violonistes du XXe siècle | Gitlis plays Bach  «Ivry Gitlis, disparu à la veille de Noël 2020, aurait eu cent ans cette année. Ardent interprète du répertoire romantique, comme des grands auteurs du XXe siècle (Bartok, Hindemith, Stravinsky), il laisse en revanche peu de trace au disque dans l'oeuvre de Bach. Voilà qui rend d'autant plus précieux cet enregistrement totalement inédit des trois concertos pour violon, réalisé en 1997 à Copenhague avec un ensemble orchestral danois. Vision hautement personnelle s'il en est - à mille lieux des courants baroques - colorée d'un vibrato reconnaissable entre tous. Même si cette vision "mittle europa" ne sera pas du goût de tous, elle mérite le détour, ne serait-ce que pour la tendresse infinie dont Ivry habite le mouvement lent du concerto en la mineur, comme pour la passion qui anime la moindre note. Si la prise de son met naturellement en scène le soliste, au détriment de l'orchestre, un peu noyé au fond de la salle, Gitlis y démontre encore à 75 ans ans une autorité instrumentale, une énergie et un goût du risque qui n'échapperont à personne. Il parvient même à trouver une étonnante liberté de phrasé dans un texte pourtant millimétré, qui ne laisse d'ordinaire guère de place à l'aventure (Adagio BWV 1042). Dans le double concerto, c'est Natalia Likhopoi (future épouse de Viktor Tretyakov), qui lui donne la réplique. Fort d'un d'un ton vif et d'un enthousiasme palpable, ce duo inattendu, partout guidé par la voix d'Ivry, fonctionne. Trois pages pour violon seul, une Chaconne un rien débridée mais d'une intensité peu commune, la Fugue de la Sonate en Ut (qui en déroutera plus d'un) et la Gavotte de la Partita en Mi, captées en public à Tokyo en 1990 complètent l'album, généreusement illustré et enrichi de la discographie du violoniste que j'ai eu le plaisir de rédiger. Une facette rare et méconnue du talent d'un interprète hors du commun, indifférent aux modes, et dernier porteur d'une formidable tradition d'indépendance.»

#05/2022 (UK)

28 September 2022 | Jonathan Woolf | MusicWeb International | Ivry Gitlis plays Bach  The richly communicative instincts of Ivry Gitlis are heard in previously unreleased Bach. |  «This year (2022) is the centenary of Ivry Gitlis’s birth (he very nearly made it to 100) and with its latest entrant in the Gitlis Edition, Rhine Classics does his many admirers a real service by releasing previously unissued Danish Radio studio recordings. Not only that, but as Gitlis left behind a meagre Bach representation it adds significantly to it. Checking Jean-Michel Molkhou’s discography, presented in the booklet, reveals that other than the haul in this disc he only recorded the Air (twice), and made one other recording of the Chaconne. Other than that – rien du tout. [...] Rather like Daniil Shafran, Gitlis has a wayward, sometimes exhausting tale to tell. But it’s a tale nonetheless and his storytelling instincts inform every phrase he plays. For all sorts of reasons these performances are not for everyone but with 24bit 96kHz remastering they can certainly be recommended to Gitlis collectors who can here appreciate his generosity of heart and his warm-blooded instincts in Bach.»

Dec.2021/Jan.2022 | Jean-Charles Hoffelé | CLASSICA No.238 (pag.99) | Pietro SCARPINI (1911-1997) |  « Rhine Classics réunit le legs inespéré d'un génie du piano n'ayant presque rien laissé au disque. Un petit miracle »

 

December 2021 | GRAMOPHONE | Editor's Choice | Henryk Szeryng - live in USA

Gabriella Lengyel (violin) Jenő Hubay's Last Pupil rec. 1951-1972 RHINE CLASSICS RH-018

The violinist Gabriella Lengyel (1920-1993) made only three commercial LPs in Paris – two private releases for Voxigrave in 1951, and one for Ducretet-Thomson in 1953. This accounts for the fact that she is relatively unknown today. This 9 CD set from Rhine Classics of live and studio recordings will, hopefully, redress the balance. The collection has been approved by the violinist’s brother Attila (Atty) just a year before his death in 2018. The restorations are superb, as is the accompanying documentation, with the cache of photographs an added bonus.

July 2021 | Rob Cowan | GRAMOPHONE | Great Musicians from under the Radar : Aldo FERRARESI & Pietro SCARPINI

April 2021 | Rob Cowan | GRAMOPHONE (pg. 89) | BOX-SET Round-up   « Rob Cowan revisits the recordings of a quartet of less prominent masters from the past --  [...]  Another musically potent brother/sister celebration finds the great violinist/teacher Jenő Hubay's last pupil Gabriella Lengyel playing alongside her pianist brother Atty in repertoire that includes numerous rare but involving Hungarian pieces, as well as works by Schumann (the first two sonatas), Ravel (the Sonata, where the 'Blues' threatens as menacingly as the Left Hand Concerto's goose-stepping central episode does), Poulenc, Lennox Berkeley (Sonatina) and Britten (Suite, Op.6). Also included, an enrapturing account of Bartók's Second Sonata and a series of Bartók violin duos (with Anne-Marie Gründer) that vies with, if not tops, the best from elsewhere. Most significant perhaps is the Brahms Concerto under Ernest Ansermet, an inward-looking performance where you can check Lengyel's approach against her own detailed annotations based on Hubay's teachings. Lengyel's sound is mellow and veiled, her manner of phrasing linear, resembling in at least that one respect the French-born violinist Jean Ter-Merguerian, a player of Armenian ancestry noted for his seamless bowing, and whose tonal properties include a fast vibrato and a sound that's far leaner than Lengyel's, certainly in the featured Brahms Concerto recorded at his American debut (Boston, 1975) under Arthur Fiedler.  Highlights here are a sizzling account of Khachaturian Concerto under Michael Maluntsian and various collaborations with the pianist Pierre Barbizet, including a bright and keenly driven Beethoven Triple Concerto (with a superb cellist, Yvan Chiffoleau) and Sonatas 1, 7, and 9, where Barbizet's playing, although not note-perfect, is so much freer and seemingly 'off the cuff' than it is on his earlier recordings with Christian Ferras, the First Sonata including its first-movement repeat (which it doesn't on either of the Ferras/Warner Classics versions). Also, Sarasate's Caprice Basque (wonderful!), and, of especial beauty, Mozart's Sonata K.378, while the set also includes the 1990 Sonata by composer-pianist Gérard Gasparian (dedicated to Ter-Merguerian) and music by Komitas. Both Lengyel and Ter-Merguerian were highly accomplished players whose artistry should be enjoyed by the widest public, so hats off to Rhine Classics for affording us the opportunity of hearing them.  »

 #10/2021 (UK)

March 2021 | Rob Cowan | GRAMOPHONE (pg. 88) | REPLAY Some Legendary Pianists    « Rob Cowan's monthly survey of historic reissues and archive recordings --  [...] referenced by Sergio Fiorentino in a revealing interview included on Rhine Classics' impressive "Live in USA 1996-97-98", where this belatedly discovered great (though modest) pianist offers dazzlingly direct accounts of such major works as Schumann's Fantasie, Op.17 (various versions are included), Beethoven's Op.110 and Rachmaninov's Second Sonata. There are copious Chopin selections, Brahms' Op.39 Waltzes and quintets by Franck and Beethoven (with excellent young players) recorded at the Newport Festival. Fiorentino's signature qualities of brilliance, clarity, fluency, attention to inner voices, thunderous climaxes and frequent delicacy inform virtually everything he plays, as well as his ability to either retreat or come to the fore as necessary in chamber music, while the stereo sound quality is in general first-rate.
Another significant Rhine Classics release features the pianist Pietro Scarpini, a pupil of Casella and Respighi who performed Beethoven under Furtwängler and championed Schöenberg post-war.  Here he plays Bach - both books of The Well-Tempered Clavier and The Art of Fugue. Despite Scarpini's reputation as a fearless promoter of new music, the general manner of his Bach-playing reminds me, in its breadth and romantic rubato, of the great pianist/harpsichordist Wanda Landowska, specifically in the '48', the fugues in Book 1 especially, where he bends the line as the music unfolds. Some of his chosen tempos are extremely broad (the E minor Fugue from Book 2). On the other hand, note how sensitively he balances voices at the start of the E major Prelude from the same book, meandering ecstatically thereafter. Then there's the closing fugue from Book1, 9'54'' to compare with Landowska's 6'48, and building inexorably in austere grandeur as it progresses. [...] »

#4/2021 (FR)

28 January 2021 | Jean-Michel Molkhou | DIAPASON No.697 | Jean Ter-Merguerian - Violon   «[...] Admiré - notamment pour sa technique d'archet - par Szeryng, Francescatti ou Rostropovich, il ne laisse aucune discographie officielle. C'est dire si ce coffret, doté d'une notice très documentée et réunissant des enregistrements de concert et de radio inédits, sort de l'oubli un violoniste de grand talent. Il s'ouvre par une interpétation fort inspirée du concerto de Brahms, captée en public à Boston en 1975 sous la baguette d'Arthur Fiedler, dans laquelle la maestria de Ter-Merguerian impressionne. [...] deux démonstrations de son art en solo, dans une magistrale vision de la Chaconne (Bach), toute empreinte d'humanité, et dans la Sonate n°3 d'Ysaye. [...] Ainsi sa vision, aussi incandescente que poignante, du concerto de Khachaturian en 1964, et plusieurs miniatures de Prokofiev, Sarasate, ou Komitas attestent déja une forte personnalité autant qu'une virtuosité étincelante. [...] A découvrir sans hésitation. »

#10/2020 (DE)

COURAGEOUS ENTERPRISES « Also worth mentioning is the daring venture of Italian sound engineer and "Violin-expert" Emilio Pessina, who publishes anthologies under the Rhine Classics label in Taiwan. There are quite new and complete treasures played by Gabriella Lengyel, Hubay's last pupil, mostly with her brother, the excellent pianist Atty Lengyel, in wonderful Schubert and Mendelssohn, and especially Hungarian masters like Harsanyi, Veress or Arma; almost exclusively live recordings by Jean Ter-Merguerian, who was, in the eyes of colleagues like Rostropovich, Szeryng, Francescatti and Ferras, one of the greatest violinists of all time (there is no finer, nobler sound !), superb in Beethoven, Brahms and Katchaturian; late American concerts recordings (1996-1998) by the Italian master pianist Sergio Fiorentino including lovely chamber music such as Franck's Quintet or Beethoven's Quintet for Piano and Winds; and recordings of the complete Bach's "Well-Tempered Clavier" and "The Art of Fugue" in crystal clear clarity made by the legendary Pietro Scarpini, made in his home studio (all available from Rhine Classics, and surprisingly inexpensive, directly from their website). »

#4/2020 (DE)

March-May 2020 | Christoph Schlüren | CRESCENDO (pg. 36) | BELCANTO ON THE VIOLIN  «Emilio Pessina is working with the Taiwan-based Rhine Classics label to extend the protection period for sound recordings in the European Union.  --  With massive lobbying, the market leaders in the field of sound recordings succeeded in extending the protection period for sound recordings from 50 to 70 years in 2011 with a decision by the European Parliament, which waved this new regulation into ruin and thus drove many smaller labels and willfully withheld recordings from the listener, that should have been public domain for a long time. What can you do to avoid this EU terror? Emilio Pessina from Veneto is one of the best connoisseurs of historical recordings worldwide, and he decided to leave the mastered or remastered recordings to the Taiwan-based Rhine Classics label, which now provides listeners worldwide with direct sales with the treasures that come from are not allowed to drive us away. And after a few years, the Rhine Classics catalog is one of the most attractive on the historic market. So I arranged some of these Taiwanese CD boxes. The mail takes one to two weeks, the prices including shipping are lower than they would be through a distribution in this country (www.rhineclassics.com).  The look is appealing, the workmanship stable, the sound quality excellent, the booklet texts contain the essential information and sometimes more. And the musical discoveries are sensational, both in terms of repertoire and the class of performances.
Franco Gulli (1926-2001), the greatest Italian violin virtuoso of the 20th century, is present with an 11-CD box in concerts by Bach, Mozart, Viotti, Beethoven, Paganini, Chausson, Busoni, Bartók or Schoeck, setting both technically and musical standards, with incredibly clearly focused playing, every note is deliberately designed, all in the service of a far-reaching vocalism and a perfect taste. His concert recordings of two works by Giorgio Federico Ghedini (1892-1965), the unknown grand master of Italian modernism, stand out particularly well: the "Divertimento in D" (with Lovro von Matačić) and the "Contrappunti per tre archi e orchestra" (with Bruno Giuranna, viola, Giacinto Caramia, cello, and Sergiu Celibidache). This is music on a par with Bartók, Ravel, Schönberg, Hindemith and Shostakovich that the interested person must know, and it is played here unsurpassed. Of course, Gulli can also be heard with his wife Enrica Cavallo, in sonatas and other duos, and you can be touched without feeling any sentimentality.
I didn't know Aldo Ferraresi (1902-1978) from Ferrara. He was one of the world's best violinists, but refusing to be a professor at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia is typical. He loved his home too much, and no artist has ever thanked it. He plays on 18 CDs and others. the violin concertos by Khachaturian and Walton under the direction of the composers, and alongside other classics (a lot of Paganini), he can be heard with rarities from composers whose names are unlikely to be known here: Stjepan Šulek in D minor Concerto in succession Dvořák in nostalgic B minor Concert by Alfredo D'Ambrosio, a veristic "Sonata drammatica" with orchestra by Carlo Jachino, virtuoso concert pieces by Allegra and Mannino and above all the highly dramatic violin concerto by Mario Guarino (1900-1971) from 1948, plus sonatas by Guarino, Franco Alfano and Karl Höller. Ferraresi is a born violinist with an almost gypsy-like, quasi-improvvisando attitude, always with a warm, bright tone and natural bel canto.
The Hubay's student Wanda Luzzato (1919-2002) seems to lead us straight back to the tradition of the 19th century (on 8 CDs), and can even be heard in a rehearsal with Ghedini. The fulminant "violin solo sonata" by Vittorio Giannini and concerts by Ginastera, Jaques-Dalcroze and Carlos Veerhoff will be presented by the world famous Italian-American violin virtuoso Ruggiero Ricci. And Alfonso Mosesti (1924-2018) presents alongside Leone Sinigaglia the lost violin concerto by the Trieste master Antonio Illersberg (1882-1953).»