Reviews | PORTFOLIO
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#14/2025 (USA) 
Jan/Feb 2026 | Henry Fogel | FANFARE Magazine - Issue 49:3 | Aaron Rosand: In Memoriam Aaron Rosand (1927–2019) was an extraordinary American violinist who never achieved the stature his talent merited. He studied at Curtis with Efrem Zimbalist and later himself became an important teacher there. He made some heralded recordings for Vox, and his concert performances were almost invariably reviewed enthusiastically, but superstardom eluded him. In Fanfare 9:2 Roger Dettmer wrote, “Rosand’s less-than-sensational career in this country defies any reasonable explanation,” and I can only agree. It is widely believed in musical circles that Isaac Stern, an enormously powerful figure, held Rosand back, allegedly because Rosand resisted Stern’s advice on career management, or perhaps out of jealousy because Columbia Records proposed to give the Barber Violin Concerto under Bernstein to Rosand. Stern wanted the Barber for himself (he got it, too). The broadest reason given was that Stern didn’t want competition from a Jewish-American violinist of the same generation. (Stern later strongly promoted the careers of Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zukerman, but they were over 25 years younger, and he was a firmly established superstar by that time.) Some details of these stories are given in Gary Lemco’s excellent notes in this set. Whatever the truth might be (I believe the reports to be accurate, based on knowing various personalities involved), this set is a magnificent tribute to Rosand. Rhine Classics is a Taiwan-based company (website: rhineclassics.com) that specializes in issuing live performances of important artists who have not been fully represented by the major labels. Rhine’s sets featuring Ivry Gitlis, Pietro Scarpini, and Berl Senofsky are wonderful examples of their work. They also supplement major labels’ studio recordings of celebrated performers with live performance releases. Their Heifetz live performance volumes are absolute treasures. The restorations are consistently of very high quality. This collection includes recitals from Butler University, NHK Hall in Tokyo, and Pacific University in California along with orchestral concerts with the Minnesota Orchestra, RAI Symphony Orchestra of Rome, NHK Symphony Orchestra, and the Gelderland Orchestra in the Netherlands. Throughout, Rosand’s spot-on intonation, beautiful, rich tone, and Romantic temperament are on full display. Rosand applied a wider range of vibrato than most, varying the degree and speed depending on the musical context of a given passage, and his liberal use of portamento was something of a throwback. Never, in my experience, did these gestures veer into excess or tastelessness. Rosand found the right balance between interpretive freedom and spontaneity on the one hand and elegance on the other. Rhine’s sources, while varied, provide a warmer, more spacious sound stage than many of Rosand’s studio recordings, and the gorgeous tone of his “ex-Kochanski” Guarnieri del Gesù is reproduced beautifully. Although I can’t claim a thorough knowledge of Rosand’s discography, I am fairly certain that he made no recordings of two major works in this collection, the Violin Concertos No. 2 by Prokofiev and Wieniawski. They alone make this a significant release. Moreover, some of the works Rosand recorded in the studio make a stronger impact in these live performances, which are frequently more naturally balanced than their studio equivalents, where engineers sometimes favored the soloist unrealistically. Rosand’s playing here is so spectacularly beautiful, spontaneously communicative, and technically secure that it is hard to pick out favorite moments from the five hours of music. Surely the Prokofiev Concerto No. 2 has rarely received a performance that so ideally combines rhythmic tautness and lyrical expansiveness. Rosand milks all the beauty possible out of the slow movement, but he and conductor Peter Maag never let the line sag. Norwegian pianist Geir Henning Braaten became a frequent partner of Rosand after illness forced his first wife, Eileen Flissler, to cease playing. Braaten is the accompanist in a 1983 Tokyo recital that comprises the third disc in the set. He generally matches Rosand’s flair, though in Beethoven’s “Kreutzer” Sonata I find his playing a little bangy. Braaten has the virtuosity to keep up with Rosand in showpieces like Heifetz’s transcription of Khachaturian’s “Sabre Dance.” In the 2001 California recital, when Rosand was 74, the pianist is Gerald Robbins, who does a good job substituting for the orchestra in the violin-piano version of Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy; he also has the technique to match Rosand’s virtuosity. Their rendering of Ravel’s Tzigane is mesmerizing. Rosand’s Bach may well upset HIP purists, with its greater degree of vibrato and more flexible tempos than was the norm even in his day, but I cannot think of a more powerful and absorbing performance of the Chaconne in D Minor from Partita No. 2 than the one given here. There is no need to go on and repeat myself. I will only add that if Rosand’s account of Vieuxtemps’s Souvenir d’Amèrique on “Yankee Doodle” fails to bring a smile and a sense of astonishment at his technical brilliance, you might want to check for a pulse. One final point: Rhine only identifies only some of these recordings as stereo, but in fact they all are. This is a set of huge importance to all who love great violin playing. It is urgently recommended. This article originally appeared in Issue 49:3 (Jan/Feb 2026) of Fanfare Magazine. |
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#13/2025 (FR)
 17 August 2025 | Jean-Charles Hoffelé | ARTAMAG' - Focus - Le disque du jour | RARETÉS KREISLER Fritz Kreisler pianiste ? Ceux qui savent ne seront pas surpris, le piano était son violon d’Ingres !, et il en usait d’abord pour accompagner ses amis chanteurs, source constante d’inspiration pour le cantabile de son archet. Ampico lui demanda des arrangements de ses « bibelots » pour le seul piano, bien plus que de simples commentaires des accompagnements originaux, afin qu’il les gravât sur rouleaux, vecteur idéal pour entrer dans les foyers américains de la middle class, et par effet immédiat d’accroître les ventes de ses partitions. Les rouleaux existants sont devenus rares, matériel assemblé au mieux ici par Emilio Pessina d’après les documents prêtés par Urs Joseph Flury, mais c’est merveille d’entendre le style si vif, le clavier entre piment et sucre que Kreisler anime avec tant de dextérité et d’humour, trois quarts d’heure de pur plaisir dans un son fatalement excellent pour des enregistrements des années vingt captés en stéréophonie sur un beau piano hélas non mentionné ! Ecoutez l’espagnolade de l’Entr’acte, ce charme ! C’est faire Kreisler présent dans la pièce pour mieux nous enchanter. Rhine Classics ajoute l’écho d’un concert pour la Maison Blanche, retransmis depuis le studio de la NBC en 1940, avec présentation du speaker et quelques mots du violoniste. A la fin, quelques souvenirs en forme d’anecdotes et hommages mêlés, dit par Franklin Delano Roosevelt lui-même. L’archet n’est plus si parfait, mais le style est demeuré toujours aussi impeccable. Livret passionnant, assorti d’une belle iconographie, comme toujours chez cet éditeur. Fritz Kreisler, pianist? Those who know will not be surprised, the piano was his hobby!, and he used it first to accompany his singer friends, a constant source of inspiration for the cantabile of his bow. Ampico asked him for arrangements of his "trinkets" for the piano alone, much more than simple commentaries on the original accompaniments, so that he could engrave them on rolls, an ideal vehicle for entering middle-class American homes and, as an immediate effect, increasing sales of his scores. The existing rolls have become rare, the material assembled here as best as possible by Emilio Pessina from documents lent by Urs Joseph Flury. But it's a marvel to hear the lively style, the keyboard between spice and sugar that Kreisler brings to life with such dexterity and humor, three-quarters of an hour of pure pleasure in a sound that is inevitably excellent for recordings from the 1920s, captured in stereo on a beautiful piano that, sadly, isn't mentioned! Listen to the Spanish dance of the Entr'acte, what charm! It's making Kreisler present in the play to better enchant us. Rhine Classics adds the echo of a White House concert, broadcast from the NBC studio in 1940, with an introduction by the announcer and a few words from the violinist. At the end, a few memories in the form of anecdotes and tributes, spoken by Franklin Delano Roosevelt himself. The bow is no longer as perfect, but the style remains as impeccable as ever. A fascinating booklet, accompanied by beautiful illustrations, as always with this publisher. [JCH] |
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#12/2025 (DE)
July 2025 | Christoph Schlüren | FONO FORUM - 07/25 p.66 | Rhine Classics' Historical Anthologies "Rediscoveries by Christine Walevska, Sergio Fiorentino, Aaron Rosand, Berl Senofsky, Cornelia Vasile, Erick Friedman and Fritz Kreisler." Northern Italian Emilio Pessina is not only one of the best experts on historical recordings, but also the most successful treasure hunter and most brilliant remastering producer in this field, which has long been so neglected by current EU law. As artistic director of the Taiwanese label Rhine Classics, he has blessed us – circumventing EU copyright sanctions – with musically valuable anthologies by the outstanding violinists Aldo Ferraresi, Franco Gulli, Christian Ferras, Gabriella Lengyel, Wanda Luzzato, Ruggiero Ricci, Jean Ter-Merguerian, and Ivry Gitlis, the pianists Pietro Scarpini and Sergio Fiorentino (1927-98), and others, containing much that was never before accessible. Another Sergio Fiorentino box set has now been released, making all the albums on the Saga label (recorded 1958-60) available on CD for the first time. They have been compiled and presented by Ernst Lumpe, the leading expert on the subject and late patron of the long-forgotten pianist. Hailed by his colleague Michelangeli as "the only other pianist", Fiorentino once again, despite all the blows of fate, proves himself to be one of the most gifted pianists of the last century, brimming with musicality, with a perfectly cultivated sound and, in the most natural way and without any gimmicks, a first-class virtuoso. In addition to piano concertos by Beethoven (No. 5), Schumann, Liszt (No. 1), Tchaikovsky (No. 1) and Gershwin, he played works by, among others, all of Chopin's nocturnes, preludes and 19 waltzes, Schumann's Carnaval and a whole lot of Liszt, all with timeless classical magic and unsurpassed vitality. For the first time, Pessina has brought a cello legend into the spotlight: the wildly romantic Christine Walevska (born 1945), a master student of the great Ennio Bolognini. I previously knew her from her Philips recordings with Eliahu Inbal from Monte Carlo in 1972/73: the two concertos and the suite by Saint-Saëns (the hypervirtuosic Second Concerto sets the standard), as well as the great concertos by Prokofiev and Khachaturian. Here, she sweeps us off our feet, brilliantly and without arbitrariness, live with maximum risk-taking, in three cello suites by Bach (young cellists may take the verve and poetry of the D minor Suite as a model), and in sonatas by Chopin, Brahms, Debussy, Prokofiev, and Pierre Sancan, Beethoven's Triple Concerto, Bloch's Schelomo, and the Dvořák Concerto. Her controlled, explosive spontaneity is absolutely worth hearing. A particular highlight is the Hindemith concerto with Dean Dixon, a select rarity by William Schuman's 'A Song of Orpheus,' where we encounter the eminent violinist Henri Temianka in 1964 as leader of the California Chamber Symphony. Her homages to Argentina should not be missed either: Piazzolla, Ginastera, and—three times—Bolognini. Fritz Kreisler, surprisingly, can be heard as an exquisite pianist, performing ten of his delicacies (plus Heuberger, Krakauer, Winternitz, and Kramer), in New York cylinder recordings from 1919-27! This is a magnificent opportunity to study his authentic agogics and dynamic agility. And then, too, on the violin, in 1940 with the National Symphony Orchestra for the POTUS with La Gitana, Caprice viennois, and Schön Rosmarin – and with this irresistibly declamatory, singing playing, one cannot help but immediately grasp how unmistakably unique, timelessly youthful, and natural Kreisler captivated his audiences for half a century. Otherwise, there are, of course, other great violinists to whom Pessina's loving dedication (in collaboration with Gary Lemco during the US excavations) is directed. The Romanian Cornelia Vasile (1948-2010), once discovered by Deutsche Grammophon and, according to Ivry Gitlis, "better than Milstein and Szeryng combined," plays Paganini's Second Violin Concerto and seven of his Caprices live with searing fire and lyrical intimacy that is a true joy. Her social decline was a tragedy. She died impoverished in Munich. Berl Senofsky (1926-2002), a legendary mentor in Baltimore, is represented with powerful performances of sonatas by Mendelssohn, Brahms, and Strauss, as well as, in 1959, with Shirley Trepel, a Brahms double concerto that is as daring as it is poetically dialogic. Erick Friedman (1939-2004), Heifetz's immaculately perfect and yet independent model pupil, plays sonatas by Brahms (No. 3), Grieg (No. 2), and Prokofiev (No. 1) in a perfectly balanced manner. And then there's Aaron Rosand (1927-2019), the former master student of Efrem Zimbalist, who, even into his old age, enchanted the world with a Romantic-style violin playing that seemed to transport us back to a bygone era: his magnificent performances of Joseph Joachim's Concerto 'in the Hungarian Style,' Wieniawski's Second Concerto, and Paganini's First Concerto! He performed Prokofiev's Second Concerto with Peter Maag in 1988, fervently, as well as Handel's Sonata in G minor (measured in the 'old style') and Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata, along with the many miniatures, including some Heifetz transcriptions. What also emerges repeatedly from Gary Lemco's competent liner notes is the conniving role played by the powerful player Isaac Stern in thwarting the careers of many outstanding musicians. Perhaps this explains a lot?
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#11/2025 (FR)
30 March 2025 | Jean-Charles Hoffelé | ARTAMAG' - Focus - Le disque du jour | LA RETROUVÉE Au long des années soixante-dix, Christine Walevska enregistra une poignée de microsillons qui révélaient un sacré tempérament. Je n’ai pas oublié ses Concertos de Saint-Saëns d’une folle virtuosité sous la baguette d’Eliahu Inbal, comme exalté par cette pure énergie qui emportera également un admirable Concerto de Schumann. Philips tenait là l’un des archets majeurs de sa génération, et toutes ses gravures pour le label néerlandais ont été récemment réunies dans un beau petit coffret pour le marché japonais. Emilio Pessina a eu accès aux archives privées de la violoncelliste : le report de deux rares microsillons (« Concerto de violoncello » paru sous l’étiquette brésilienne Sodira, le LP édité à compte d’auteur « The Artistry of Christine Walevska ») mais surtout quantité de captations en concert qui montrent l’étendue de son répertoire, de Bach à Jean Françaix, illustrant la part chambriste que Philips avait ignorée, préférant mettre l’accent sur la virtuose plutôt que sur la musicienne. Trois Suites de Bach, les Sonates de Chopin et de Prokofiev, la Première Sonate de Brahms, celle de Debussy, soulignent à quel point cet archet « parlait les notes » ; une rareté absolue, la Sonate de Pierre Sancan, rappelle sa gourmandise côté répertoires, aussi dans le domaine baroque – ses Vivaldi chez Philips l’indiquaient déjà, ici, hors Bach ces Concerts de Couperin relu en une seule suite par Bazelaire. Les ajouts côté concerto sont tout aussi précieux : le Dvořák fut son cheval de bataille, outil idéal pour démontrer sa grande technique mais aussi à quel point le son de ce violoncelle portait : deux mouvements seulement à Bruxelles pour André Vandernoot, mais à Paris, en 1976, sous le geste impérieux de Carlos Païta, toute l’œuvre emportée par ce lyrisme inextinguible qu’au disque Sir Alexander Gibson avait déjà goûté. Le Concerto d’Hindemith, littéralement transfiguré par un archet si autoritaire, et si splendidement conduit par Dean Dixon, à Francfort en 1967, deux ans plus tard le Schelomo d’Hambourg où Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt hausse l’œuvre à une dimension quasi philosophique – la gravure de studio avec Eliahu inbal était aussi superbe – et enfin A Song of Orpheus de William Schuman, donné sous la baguette d’Henri Temianka à Los Angeles en création pour la côte Ouest des Etats-Unis, qui rappelle sa dévotion aux compositeurs de son pays natal, complètent à coup d’inédits ce portrait parfait d’une interprète majeure, enfin retrouvée. Throughout the 1970s, Christine Walevska recorded a handful of LPs that revealed a truly remarkable temperament. I haven't forgotten her breathtakingly virtuosic Saint-Saëns Concertos under the baton of Eliahu Inbal, as if exalted by that pure energy that also propelled her to an admirable Schumann Concerto. Philips had one of the leading violinists of her generation, and all her recordings for the Dutch label have recently been collected in a beautiful little box set for the Japanese market. Emilio Pessina gained access to the cellist's private archives: the remastering of two rare LPs ("Concerto de violoncello," released on the Brazilian label Sodira, and the self-released LP "The Artistry of Christine Walevska"), but above all, a wealth of concert recordings that demonstrate the breadth of her repertoire, from Bach to Jean Françaix, illustrating the chamber music side that Philips had overlooked, preferring to emphasize the virtuoso rather than the musician. Three Bach Suites, the Sonatas of Chopin and Prokofiev, Brahms's First Sonata, and Debussy's Sonata underscore how this bow truly "spoke the notes"; an absolute rarity, the Sonata by Pierre Sancan, recalls her voracious appetite for repertoire, including in the Baroque realm—her Vivaldi recordings on Philips already indicated this, here, in addition to Bach, are the Couperin Concertos reinterpreted as a single suite by Bazelaire. The additions to the concerto repertoire are equally valuable: Dvořák was his forte, an ideal tool for demonstrating his great technique but also the powerful sound of this cello: only two movements in Brussels for André Vandernoot, but in Paris, in 1976, under the commanding baton of Carlos Païta, the entire work was swept away by that inextinguishable lyricism that Sir Alexander Gibson had already experienced on record. Hindemith's Concerto, literally transfigured by such an authoritative bow, and so splendidly conducted by Dean Dixon, in Frankfurt in 1967, two years later the Schelomo in Hamburg where Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt raises the work to an almost philosophical dimension – the studio recording with Eliahu Inbal was also superb – and finally A Song of Orpheus by William Schuman, given under the baton of Henri Temianka in Los Angeles as a premiere for the West Coast of the United States, which recalls her devotion to the composers of her native country, complete with unreleased material this perfect portrait of a major performer, finally rediscovered. [JCH] |
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#10/2025 (IT)
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] Sergio Fiorentino's story is that of a master pianist who, due to a plane crash and perhaps excessive humility in managing his career, remained outside the mainstream international concert circuit for a long time. Having returned to the great halls in the 1990s, shortly before his death in 1998, the Neapolitan musician is increasingly the subject of a rediscovery that has now made him a true legend. In this 10-CD Rhine Classics box set, derived from a meticulous restoration of the original SAGA LP tapes, we hear Fiorentino in the late 1950s and early 1960s, at the height of his virtuosity but already mature enough to tackle, with impressive depth, for example, the complete Chopin Nocturnes. His repertoire is vast, from Beethoven to the twentieth century, even with orchestra. [LC]
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#9/2025 (UK)
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. |
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#8/2025 (UK)
9 March 2025 | Stephen Greenbank | MusicWeb International A pleasure to have Fiorentino’s complete Saga Recordings under one roof [SG] [...] 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. |
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#7/2025 (UK)
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. |
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#6/2025 (FR)
15 February 2025 | Jean-Michel Molkhou | PIANISTE N°151 - Cahier Critique / Disques [...] La reproduction des jaquettes originales et un livret généreusement documenté séduiront les collectioneurs les plus exigeantes. À ne pas manquer! [JMM] [...] The reproduction of the original covers and a generously documented booklet will appeal to the most demanding collectors. Not to be missed! [JMM]
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#5/2025 (FR)
9 February 2025 | Jean-Charles Hoffelé | ARTAMAG' - Focus - Le disque du jour | SAGA FIORENTINO Il y a un paradoxe Fiorentino. Lorsqu’au début des années 1990, Ernst A. Lumpe commença d’exhumer des bandes de concert, et que Fiorentino lui-même revint au studio d’enregistrement pour APR, c’est l’art d’un pianiste bientôt octogénaire qui paraissait, décanté et pourtant resté prodigieusement présent. Mais il y eut un autre Fiorentino, ce jeune homme impétueux qu’Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, le découvrant sidéré lors du concours de Monza, désigna comme « le seul autre pianiste ». Début de carrière fulgurant brisé net en 1954 par un accident d’aéroplane qui faillit lui être fatal. Cette longue parenthèse ne calma pas ses ardeurs, et à la fin des années cinquante, il trouva enfin ce qui lui manquait : un éditeur discographique. S’en suivit une dizaine de microsillons pour un label dont il essuya le peu de professionnalisme et le caractère fantasque de son fondateur : Saga. L’héritage est inégal, et certaines séances parfois approximatives, comme hélas celles des Nocturnes à l’Olympic Theater de Londres où ni l’instrument ni la prise de son ne rendent justice à son art. Mais toujours au rayon Chopin, des Valses prodigieuses, tour à tour exubérantes ou poétiques, de sombres Préludes, une Polonaise-fantaisie fuligineuse sont simplement inoubliables, comme le récital Liszt dominé par deux Ballades dites comme des contes. Un Carnaval de Schumann mené grand train est l’autre perle de cet ensemble où les concertos pâtissent de chefs peu inspirés : celui de Schumann et le Premier de Liszt s’en tirent grâce à un bon orchestre hambourgeois, mais chaque trait du pianiste prouve qu’il passait au-dessus de ces contingences, au point d’être absolument éclatant au long d’un Empereur épique, il est vrai bien accordé à la direction de George Hurst. Le Premier de Tchaikovski montre avant même le virtuose l’élégance du musicien, et celui de Gershwin est plus qu’une curiosité, refermant cette période Saga au fond si précieuse : ce sont les disques d’un jeune homme auquel la vie joua plus d’un tour, d’un pianiste éminent dont l’art heureusement fut sauvé par une poignée d’admirateurs, et la constance d’Emilio Pessina qui aura publié tant de ses trésors retrouvés. There is a Fiorentino paradox. When, in the early 1990s, Ernst A. Lumpe began unearthing concert recordings, and Fiorentino himself returned to the recording studio for APR, it was the art of a pianist nearing eighty that emerged, refined yet still prodigiously present. But there was another Fiorentino, this impetuous young man whom Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, discovering him with astonishment at the Monza competition, described as "the only other pianist." His meteoric rise to fame was abruptly cut short in 1954 by a near-fatal plane crash. This long hiatus did not dampen his enthusiasm, and at the end of the 1950s, he finally found what he needed: a record label. This was followed by about ten LPs for a label whose lack of professionalism and the whimsical nature of its founder, Saga, he suffered from. The legacy is uneven, and some sessions are occasionally sloppy, such as, unfortunately, those of the Nocturnes at the Olympic Theatre in London, where neither the instrument nor the recording does justice to his artistry. But still within the Chopin repertoire, the prodigious Waltzes, by turns exuberant and poetic, the somber Preludes, and a sooty Polonaise-Fantaisie are simply unforgettable, as is the Liszt recital dominated by two Ballades presented like fairy tales. A spirited performance of Schumann's Carnaval is the other gem in this collection, where the concertos suffer from uninspired conductors: Schumann's and Liszt's First are salvaged thanks to a good Hamburg orchestra, but every nuance of the pianist's playing proves that he transcended these limitations, to the point of being absolutely dazzling throughout an epic Emperor Concerto, admittedly well-suited to George Hurst's conducting. Tchaikovsky's First Concerto reveals the musician's elegance even before the virtuoso's virtuosity, and Gershwin's is more than just a curiosity, bringing this ultimately precious Saga period to a close: these are the recordings of a young man to whom life dealt more than one blow, of an eminent pianist whose art was fortunately saved by a handful of admirers, and of the unwavering commitment of Emilio Pessina, who has released so many of his rediscovered treasures. [JCH] |
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#4/2025 (USA)
7 February 2025 | Lance G. Hill | The Classical Music Guide Forums | Aaron Rosand In Memoriam - Live [violinist] - 4 CD set on Rhine I have recently received the four CD set from Rhine Classics [029], that excellent Taiwan label that has given collectors some real treasures since the label's inception. Generously filled with most of the CDs approaching 80 minutes in duration, if ever there was a violinist worthy of more recordings than he made, it is Aaron Rosand, who was also a victim of Isaac Stern's politics, unfortunately. In this stunning set we get Wieniawski's Violin Concerto #2; Paganini's Violin Concerto #1, Prokofiev's Violin Concerto #2, Bruch's Scottish Fantasy, Joachim's Violin Concerto #2. There are Heifetz transcriptions, Saint-Saëns' Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, Ravel's Tzigane, Vieuxtemps' Yankee Doodle, pieces by Hubay, Sarasate, Handel, Beethoven (Kreutzer), Ysaÿe, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Khachaturian, Chopin/Milstein, Vivaldi/Respighi, and much more. The set fills a huge void in the Rosand discography with these live recordings. Collaborators include pianists Stephen Glover, Geir Henning Braaten, Gerald Robbins, and conductors Ferdinand Leitner, Peter Maag, and Herbert Blomstedt. All has been restored and remastered in 24 bit/96 kzh by Emilio Pessina. Notes are by my good friend, Dr. Gary R. Lemco. I will be reporting more on this as I enjoy this enormous collection with some it to be heard on my Aaron Rosand radio tribute coming up soon. This is a first class production in every sense.
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#3/2025 (FR)
2 February 2025 | Jean-Charles Hoffelé | ARTAMAG' - Focus - Le disque du jour | VIRTUOSES RETROUVÉS Le trésor caché du violon américain ? Aaron Rosand serait quasiment oublié aujourd’hui, entré au purgatoire depuis son décès le 9 juillet 2019 et même quelques années avant, malgré une discographie étoffée où les raretés ne manquaient pas. D’entre tous les violonistes de son temps, il eut le répertoire le plus vaste, de Bach à ses contemporains, pourtant son art flamboyant, qui ne craignait jamais de sacrifier le brio et l’espressivo à quelques risques dont des virtuoses aussi chenus s’abstenaient par prudence, restera indissoluble du répertoire romantique. Du moins le croit-on, ce que ce beau coffret utile vient quelques peu contredire. Aaron Rosand jouait le Guarneri del Gesù de Paul Kochanski, sa sonorité ailée, son médium si chaleureux magnifient un fabuleux Deuxième Concerto de Prokofiev pour la RAI de Rome sous la baguette impeccable de Peter Maag (quel dommage que l’on n’ait pas ici le Premier, composé pour le virtuose polonais), perle absolue d’un ensemble fatalement composite, courant des années 1970 – la touche est alors d’une justesse éclatante, écoutez le Concerto de Joachim, une rareté à l’époque, aux premières années du XXI siècle : à 70 ans passés, la Tzigane de Ravel, les transcriptions d’Heifetz, son modèle avoué, sont ensorcelantes mais aussi émouvantes, nonobstant un archet moins sûr. La somme est prodigieuse, et documente dans le feu du concert tous les visages de cet art qu’il est désormais interdit d’oublier, Rhine Classics ayant sauvé ici, quelques documents précieux comme ce Premier Concerto de Paganini dirigé par Herbert Blomstedt à Minneapolis, mais commencez par le musicien : la Sonate « Kreutzer » de Beethoven, captée en concert à Tokyo en juin 1983. D’un musicien l’autre : Erick Friedman jeune homme fut un temps considéré comme un nouvel Heifetz, contrat tonitruant à la RCA, adoubé par le maître lui-même qui dialoguera avec lui au disque pour le Concerto à deux violons de Bach. Légendaire, dès ses débuts, carrière américaine brillante, le disque s’éloignant pourtant trop tôt d’un art aussi parfait, puis en 1986, un accident de voiture le contraint à une longue pause avant de pouvoir retrouver une partie de ses moyens. Les trois Sonates captées en concert en 2001, trois ans avant sa mort et alors que les premiers effets du cancer qui allait l’emporter commençaient à l’affecter, le montrent toujours aussi virtuose, touche assurée, archet délié, mais ce qui surprend en premier reste la pure beauté de sa sonorité, l’élégance des phrasés, la délicatesse des interprétations qui font pleurer d’avoir si peu de choses par lui : il faut qu’Emilio Pessina nous dégotte d’autres trésors de ce musicien pour les musiciens, écoutez seulement sa Troisième Sonate de Brahms. [JCH] The hidden treasure of the American violin? Aaron Rosand would be virtually forgotten today, having entered purgatory since his death on July 9, 2019, and even a few years before, despite an extensive discography filled with rarities. Of all the violinists of his time, he had the most extensive repertoire, from Bach to his contemporaries. Yet his flamboyant art, which never feared sacrificing brilliance and espressivo to a few risks that such hoary virtuosos prudently avoided, will remain inseparable from the Romantic repertoire. At least, that's what we believe, something this beautiful and useful box set somewhat contradicts. Aaron Rosand played Paul Kochanski's Guarneri del Gesù, his winged sound and warm midrange magnifying a fabulous Second Prokofiev Concerto for RAI in Rome under the impeccable baton of Peter Maag (what a shame we don't have the First here, composed for the Polish virtuoso), an absolute gem in a fatally mixed ensemble from the 1970s – the touch is then of dazzling accuracy. Listen to the Joachim Concerto, a rarity at the time, in the early years of the 21st century: at over 70, Ravel's Tzigane, the transcriptions of Heifetz, his avowed model, are bewitching but also moving, despite a less sure bow. The collection is prodigious, documenting, in the heat of the concert, all the facets of this art form that is now forbidden to be forgotten. Rhine Classics has rescued here some precious documents, such as this First Concerto by Paganini conducted by Herbert Blomstedt in Minneapolis. But start with the musician: Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata, recorded in concert in Tokyo in June 1983. From one musician to another: the young Erick Friedman was once considered a new Heifetz, a sensational contract with RCA, endorsed by the master himself, who would later enter into a dialogue with him on the recording of Bach's Concerto for Two Violins. Legendary from the start, with a brilliant American career, the recording process nevertheless departed too soon from such a perfect art form. Then, in 1986, a car accident forced him to take a long break before he could regain some of his strength. The three Sonatas recorded in concert in 2001, three years before his death and when the first effects of the cancer that would take him away were beginning to affect him, show him as virtuoso as ever, with a sure touch and a smooth bow, but what surprises first remains the pure beauty of his sound, the elegance of his phrasing, the delicacy of his interpretations which make you cry to have so little by him: Emilio Pessina must unearth other treasures from this musician for musicians, just listen to his Third Sonata by Brahms. [JCH] |
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#2/2025 (UK)
30 January 2025 | Jonathan Woolf | MusicWeb International Fiorentino’s complete Saga recordings of 1958-60 heard in excellent remasterings [JW] Don’t overlook Rhine Classics’ ‘early live and unissued takes’ in their Fiorentino Edition which also includes some Saga material (review). The discs are presented in Original Jackets, with the reverse of the jacket simplified to present track listings and has been remastered in 24-bit 96 kHz. The earlier sessions were made in mono, though pseudo-stereo LPs were issued as well. The Chopin Nocturnes, for example, are in stereo as noted. Pre-echo and wow, which bedevilled some of the Liszt recordings, in particular, and which can be heard in the Piano Classics transfers, have both been reduced in these remasterings, as also noted, and the remastering here is uniformly excellent, with the proviso that it’s impossible to make the Sagas sound sonically glamorous. Ernst Lumpe’s booklet note tells the listener all he needs to know, there are some excellently reproduced photographs, and the box is an authoritative contribution to Fiorentino’s representation on disc. |
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#1/2025 (UK)
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. [...] |
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#15/2024 (UK)
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#14/2024 (international)
14 November 2024 | Jakub Puchalski | ICMA International Classical Music Awards - Nomination 2025 |
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#13/2024 (UK)
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#12/2024 (FR)
Mai 1980, Berl Senofsky revient en Belgique où il avait remporté vingt-cinq ans plus tôt le Concours Reine Elisabeth. Dans le studio de la Radio de Gand, porté par l’accompagnement somptueux de Jean-Claude Vanden Eyden, son violon chante avec un lyrisme désarmant au long d’une merveilleuse Deuxième Sonate de Brahms. Emilio Pessina a pris soin d’encadrer les gravures éparses qu’il regroupe dans ce précieux album par les deux prises captées le même jour : la Sonate de Strauss qui referme l’ensemble, est un torrent de lyrisme où s’affirme la plénitude d’un archet que le disque ignora trop. Né de parents tous deux violonistes, gamin prodigieux, Berl Senofsky fut un représentant majeur de l’école juive américaine, fêté par tous les orchestres, au fond seul le disque lui manqua ; quelques participations en trio pour Gary Graffman seront ses seules armes pour la RCA : Jascha Heifetz occupait tout l’espace, au point qu’au lendemain de sa victoire au Reine Elisabeth, ce sera en Europe, et pour Philips, qu’il enregistrera son seul disque en soliste, Rudolf Moralt lui tissant de fantastiques paysages pour une gravure mémorable du Concerto de Brahms, avec une forte pincée de paprika dans le Finale. L’album connaîtra un beau succès aux USA sous étiquette Epic, sans pour autant attirer l’attention des éditeurs américains. Son archet stylé qui n’oublie jamais l’espressivo y fait merveille, Forgotten Records l’a parfaitement réédité. Cette discographie officielle minimaliste rend d’autant plus précieux les témoignages radiophoniques publiés pour la première fois par Rhine Classics. La pure beauté de ce violon, sa charge émotionnelle font décidément merveille chez Brahms (malgré le léger pleurage dans le premier mouvement de la Troisième Sonate avec Claude Frank en 1955 à Bruxelles, écho du concours, on comprend qu’il l’ait gagné !), particulièrement dans un Double Concerto orageux où l’on peut également entendre le violoncelle altier de Shirley Trepel, toute grande artiste que le disque ignora honteusement. Hors Brahms, l’élégance règne au long d’une Première Sonate de Saint-Saëns impeccable, la poésie déborde dans la Troisième Sonate de Mendelssohn, et quel charme dans le Liebesleid de Kreisler ! Oui, décidément, Berl Senofsky était un maître. In May 1980, Berl Senofsky returned to Belgium, where he had won the Queen Elisabeth Competition twenty-five years earlier. In the Ghent Radio studio, accompanied by the sumptuous music of Jean-Claude Vanden Eyden, his violin sang with disarming lyricism throughout a marvelous performance of Brahms's Second Sonata. Emilio Pessina has carefully framed the scattered recordings he has gathered in this precious album with two takes recorded on the same day: the Strauss Sonata that closes the set is a torrent of lyricism, showcasing the fullness of a bow technique that has been largely overlooked on record. Born to parents who were both violinists, a prodigious child, Berl Senofsky was a major representative of the American Jewish school, celebrated by orchestras everywhere; ultimately, only a recording was lacking. A few trio appearances for Gary Graffman would be his only offerings for RCA: Jascha Heifetz dominated the scene, to the point that, following his Queen Elisabeth Competition victory, he recorded his only solo album in Europe for Philips, with Rudolf Moralt weaving fantastic soundscapes for a memorable recording of the Brahms Concerto, featuring a generous dose of paprika in the Finale. The album enjoyed considerable success in the USA on the Epic label, without attracting the attention of American record labels. His stylish bowing, which never neglects the expressive tone, shines on the album, and Forgotten Records has given it a superb reissue. This minimalist official discography makes the radio recordings published for the first time by Rhine Classics all the more valuable. The sheer beauty of this violin, its emotional resonance, truly works wonders in Brahms (despite the slight wistfulness in the first movement of the Third Sonata with Claude Frank in 1955 in Brussels—an echo of the competition—one understands why he won!), particularly in a tempestuous Double Concerto where one can also hear the soaring cello of Shirley Trepel, a truly great artist whom recordings have shamefully overlooked. Apart from Brahms, elegance reigns throughout an impeccable First Sonata by Saint-Saëns, poetry overflows in the Third Sonata by Mendelssohn, and what charm in Kreisler's Liebesleid! Yes, indeed, Berl Senofsky was a master. [JCH] |
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#11/2024 (UK)
14 October 2024 | Jonathan Woolf | MusicWeb International Live sonata performances from a Heifetz protégé who became his own man [JW] |
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#10/2024 (UK)
10 October 2024 | Jonathan Woolf | MusicWeb International RECOMMENDED / RECORDING OF THE MONTH Oct.2024 The vibrant, alluring art of arch-Romanticist, Aaron Rosand [JW] |
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#9/2024 (UK)
23 September 2024 | Jonathan Woolf | MusicWeb International Strong, masculine playing from Berl Senofsky – along with some less than stellar performances [JW] |
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#8/2024 (UK)
A pleasing addition to Friedman’s discography with these first CD releases [SG] |
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#7/2024 (UK)
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.
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#6/2024 (UK)
6 September 2024 | Rob Cowan | GRAMOPHONE - Vol.103 October 2024 | EDITOR’s CHOICE A wonderful release that launches Berl Senofsky into the heady realms of collectable violin virtuosos.
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#5/2024 (FR)
Septembre 2024 | Jean-Michel Molkhou | "Talents oubliés" | CLASSICA n°265 p.89 | ROSAND [CHOC - Exceptionnel]; SENOFSKY, VASILE, KREISLER [☆☆☆☆☆ - Coup de coeur]; FRIEDMAN [☆☆☆ - Bon].
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#4/2024 (UK)
A Romanian Paganini specialist whose career trailed away [JW] |
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#3/2024 (UK) |
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#2/2024 (UK) The piano rolls are real but the concert is not what it says [JW] |
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#1/2024 (UK) |
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#10/2023 (US)
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). [...] This article originally appeared in Issue 47:2 (Nov/Dec 2023) of Fanfare Magazine. |
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#9/2023 (FR)
Un jour que je discutais à bâtons rompus avec Henryk Szeryng de ses divers enregistrements du Concerto de Brahms, il me coupa. « Vous connaissez le Concerto de Hahn ? Je vais le créer l’année prochaine aux Etats-Unis. » Il avait fait bien plus, en retrouvant le manuscrit à la Bibliothèque Nationale de Caracas, perçant enfin le mystère de cette œuvre qui n’avait plus été jouée depuis sa création fugitive en 1927, malgré sa dédicace à Jules Boucherit et l’amitié qui liait le compositeur à une autre violoniste, Denise Soriano, avec laquelle il enregistra sa Sonate. Durant ses études à Paris, Szeryng entendit parler de ce « concerto fantôme » par Gabriel Bouillon, son professeur au Conservatoire. Miracle !, la création américaine de l’œuvre à Atlanta le 20 novembre 1987, la voici, de plus dans un son remarquable, Henryk Szeryng faisant assaut de traits enthousiastes dans le Décidé initial (que le public applaudit), ardant le Chant d’amour, amours probablement interdites. Le Final contraste un Lent élégiaque avec un presto (Vif et léger) qui raille, petite merveille d’esprit très parisien. L’archet est toujours magnifique, la justesse encore certaine, mais Henryk Szeryng se doute-t-il qu’il est à quelques mois de la mort qui le prendra sans prévenir le 3 mars de l’année suivante ? Rhine Classics ajoute deux échos d’un concert donné au temps de la splendeur du violoniste polonais le 17 janvier 1974 à Boston avec le jeune Michael Tilson Thomas. Plus que pour le Troisième Concerto de Paganini, qu’il aura retrouvé en 1967 dans les archives en désordre de Giuseppina, l’arrière-petite-fille du compositeur, et « arrangé » en s’écrivant au passage une fabuleuse cadence dont il ne fait ici qu’une bouchée, c’est l’estompe du Poème de Chausson qui saisit, témoignage de ce style si spécifique de l’école franco-belge de violon, dont après Henryk Szeryng, seul Augustin Dumay aura été l’ultime récipiendaire. One day, while I was chatting casually with Henryk Szeryng about his various recordings of the Brahms Concerto, he interrupted me. “Are you familiar with the Hahn Concerto? I’m going to premiere it next year in the United States.” He had done much more, having rediscovered the manuscript at the National Library of Caracas, finally unraveling the mystery of this work, which hadn’t been performed since its brief premiere in 1927, despite its dedication to Jules Boucherit and the composer’s friendship with another violinist, Denise Soriano, with whom he recorded his Sonata. During his studies in Paris, Szeryng first heard about this “phantom concerto” from Gabriel Bouillon, his professor at the Conservatory. Miracle! The American premiere of the work in Atlanta on November 20, 1987, is presented here, moreover in remarkable sound quality. Henryk Szeryng unleashes a torrent of enthusiastic flourishes in the opening "Décidé" (which the audience applauds), and ignites the passion of the "Chant d'amour," a song of probably forbidden love. The Finale contrasts an elegiac "Lent" with a playful "Presto" ("Vif et léger"), a small marvel of very Parisian wit. The bowing is still magnificent, the intonation still certain, but did Henryk Szeryng suspect that he was just months away from the death that would take him without warning on March 3 of the following year? Rhine Classics adds two recordings from a concert given during the Polish violinist's heyday on January 17, 1974, in Boston with the young Michael Tilson Thomas. More than for Paganini’s Third Concerto, which he rediscovered in 1967 in the disordered archives of Giuseppina, the composer’s great-granddaughter, and “arranged” by writing himself a fabulous cadenza in the process, which he makes short work of here, it is the subtlety of Chausson’s Poème that captivates, a testament to that very specific style of the Franco-Belgian school of violin, of which after Henryk Szeryng, only Augustin Dumay was the last recipient. [JCH]
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22 April 2023 | Jean-Charles Hoffelé | ARTAMAG' - Focus - Le disque du jour | |
#8/2023 (FR)
March 2023 | Jean-Charles Hoffelé | "Trésors d'archets" | CLASSICA n°250 p.83 | HEIFETZ Legendary NY, SZERYNG reDiscovered [CHOC - Exceptionnel]; SZERYNG Live in USA [☆☆☆☆☆ - Coup de coeur]; GITLIS [☆☆☆☆ - Excellent]
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#07/2023 (UK)
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. |
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#06/2023 (UK)
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. |
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#05/2023 (USA)
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. |
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#04/2023 (UK)
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. |
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#03/2023 (UK)
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. |
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#02/2023 (FR)
Juin 1955, dans le studio de la radio d’Edimbourg, Sergio Fiorentino se mesure au 4e Concerto de Rachmaninov, celui-là même regardé alors comme le plus faible de la série, mais dont il se fera l’avocat obstiné. La bande originale a été effacée, pratique courante dans les stations régionales de la BBC, mais heureusement une captation de la retransmission a été préservée, la voici. L’enregistrement aurait pu se révéler périlleux, l’orchestre composé par Rachmaninov est délicat à mettre en place, sa fusion avec le pianiste exigeant des réglages fins, hors tout sonne avec un naturel, une évidence, une fluidité jusque dans un Finale d’une électricité folle. Mais écoutez d’abord l’entre chien et loup du Largo, chanté sans un gramme de sentimentalité, ce qui en augmente le caractère élégiaque, et ce trille mordoré à la fin, avec que n’éclate l’orchestre. C’est le trésor absolu de ce plein disque d’inédits qui brosse un portrait du pianiste en jeune homme, avant l’accident qui le forcera à quelques années de retrait. L’autorité fabuleuse, le pianisme consommé des deux captations au Concours de Genève, de précieuses acétates, nous offrent une Fantaisie de Chopin d’anthologie, et les prises restées jusque-là inédites des enregistrements londoniens pour Saga révèlent une Méphisto-Valse sous stupéfiants et une Tarentelle de Chopin irrésistible où le clavier chante autant qu’il danse. In June 1955, in the Edinburgh radio studio, Sergio Fiorentino tackled Rachmaninov's Fourth Piano Concerto, then considered the weakest of the series, but one he would become a staunch advocate of. The original recording has been erased, a common practice at regional BBC stations, but fortunately, a recording of the broadcast has been preserved, and here it is. The recording could have been perilous; Rachmaninov's orchestral arrangement is delicate to set up, its integration with the pianist requiring fine-tuning. Yet, the result is a sound of naturalness, clarity, and fluidity, right up to a Finale of electrifying energy. But first, listen to the twilight of the Largo, sung without a trace of sentimentality, which enhances its elegiac character, and that golden trill at the end, before the orchestra bursts forth. This is the absolute treasure of this entire disc of unreleased material, which paints a portrait of the pianist as a young man, before the accident that forced him into several years of seclusion. The fabulous authority and consummate pianism of the two recordings at the Geneva Competition, precious acetates, offer us an anthology-worthy Chopin Fantasy, and the previously unreleased takes from the London recordings for Saga reveal a Mephisto Waltz under the influence of drugs and an irresistible Chopin Tarantella where the keyboard sings as much as it dances. [JCH] |
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#01/2023 (UK)
January 2023 | Rob Cowan | GRAMOPHONE (pg.111) | REPLAY | Rob Cowan's monthly survey of historic reissues and archive recordings - Gitlis plays Bach
[...] Were I to nominate a Gitlis soulmate from yesterday it would definitely be Huberman. The sound throughout captures Gitlis's distinctive if idiosyncratic tone to perfection.
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#14/2022 (UK)
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. |
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#13/2022 (UK)
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.
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#12/2022 (UK)
November 2022 | Rob Cowan | GRAMOPHONE (pg. 94-95) | REPLAY | Rob Cowan's monthly survey of historic reissues and archive recordings - Commemorating Christian Ferras
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#11/2022 (FR)
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. [...] Rhine Classics publishes an album of concert recordings all previously unreleased on disc, dominated by his most embracing recording of the Concerto "to the memory of an angel" (Berg), set in the elegiac finery distilled by the Mahlerian baton of Paul Kletzki, a score whose abysses and spirituality are worth, he knew, a self-portrait. [JCH]
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#10/2022 (UK)
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. |
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#09/2022 (UK)
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. |
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#08/2022 (UK)
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. |
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#07/2022 (UK)
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. |
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#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. Ivry Gitlis, who passed away on Christmas Eve 2020, would have turned one hundred this year. A fervent interpreter of the Romantic repertoire, as well as the great composers of the 20th century (Bartók, Hindemith, Stravinsky), he left, however, few recordings of Bach's work. This makes this completely unreleased recording of the three violin concertos, made in 1997 in Copenhagen with a Danish orchestral ensemble, all the more precious. A highly personal vision if ever there was one—a world away from Baroque trends—colored by a vibrato instantly recognizable. Even if this "Central European" vision will not appeal to everyone, it is well worth seeking out, if only for the infinite tenderness with which Ivry inhabits the slow movement of the concerto in A minor, as well as for the passion that animates every single note. While the recording naturally focuses on the soloist, to the detriment of the orchestra, which is somewhat lost in the background, Gitlis, at 75, still demonstrates an instrumental authority, an energy, and a taste for risk that will not go unnoticed. He even manages to find a surprising freedom of phrasing in a text that is nonetheless meticulously structured, and which ordinarily leaves little room for improvisation (Adagio BWV 1042). In the double concerto, it is Natalia Likhopoi (future wife of Viktor Tretyakov) who takes his place. With a lively tone and palpable enthusiasm, this unexpected duo, guided throughout by Ivry's voice, works beautifully. Three pieces for solo violin, a Chaconne that is somewhat unrestrained but of uncommon intensity, the Fugue from the Sonata in C (which will baffle more than a few), and the Gavotte from the Partita in E, recorded live in Tokyo in 1990, complete the album, which is generously illustrated and includes the violinist's discography, which I had the pleasure of compiling. It reveals a rare and little-known facet of the talent of an extraordinary performer, indifferent to trends, and the last bearer of a formidable tradition of independence. [JMM] |
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#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. |
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#04/2022 (US)
[...] In this memorial collection the finale of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto and both performances of the Sibelius Concerto are propulsive and driven, but they are never out of control. There is clear purpose and direction in the playing, and Gitlis also clearly listens to the orchestra, reacting to touches of phrasing from the first-desk soloists. Throughout this entire set, in 11 hours of playing there is nothing that sounds as if Gitlis is on automatic pilot. [...] |
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#03/2022 (FR)
Gabriella Lengyel, ce nom, aux assonances hongroises, me rappelait bien quelque chose. Ce fut sous son archet, qu’enfant, je découvris au disque les Duos de Bartók où elle dialoguait avec Anne-Marie Gründer, au sein d’un microsillon Ducretet-Thomson. Quelle émotion de les retrouver parfaitement repiqués dans l’imposant coffret qu’Emilio Pessina consacre à cette violoniste oubliée. L’intitulé de cette belle petite boîte au livret aussi instructif qu’illustré de rares photographies prévient : elle fut la dernière élève de Jenő Hubay, son archet rapsode, aux sonorités évocatrices, à l’aigu de flûte, le dit assez, ce violon vient d’ailleurs et probablement de plus loin dans le temps que celui de sa quasi compatriote transylvanienne, Johanna Martzy : les portamentos, les glissandos, les attaques en dessous comme les pratiquait Szigeti, qui donnent un caractère expressionniste à ses phrasés, évoquent le violon du grand romantisme. Paradoxe !, elle fut un égérie des modernes, et se dévouant d’abondance aux nouvelles œuvres de ses compatriotes Hubay et Bartók évidemment, Dohnányi, Weiner, Zsolt, Harsányi, Veress, Farkas, Kovach, et Arma qui, chez lui, dans le studio de musique de son pavillon me fit entendre sous son archet son Divertimento de concert que je retrouve ici lors d’un récital donné à Darmstadt avec Atty Lengyel, le frère de la violoniste. Au même programme, une Sonate de Ravel subtile jusqu’à l’étrange, et celle de Poulenc, acide, ravageuse, formidable. On pourra glaner chez les Romantiques, plutôt qu’un Concerto de Brahms dirigé par Ansermet à l’OSR où elle parait inquiète, son intégrale des œuvres pour violon et piano de Schubert préparée spécialement pout la Radio de Bâle. Archet diseur, fantaisie, liberté, il sera une fois de plus passionnant de comparer son Schubert à celui de Johanna Martzy. Mais écoutez aussi sa Sonate en fa majeur de Mozart, avant de vous replonger dans les Modernes, en commençant par la Suite Op. 6 de Britten. Que cet archet si affamé de répertoire – vous trouverez même la 10e Sonate de Richard Flury, le Poème automnal de Respighi – soit enfin illustré par une parution aussi soignée, quelle joie ! [JCH] Gabriella Lengyel—that name, with its Hungarian overtones, rang a bell. It was under her bow that, as a child, I discovered Bartók's Duos on a Ducretet-Thomson LP, where she and Anne-Marie Gründer performed. What a thrill to find them perfectly remastered in the impressive box set that Emilio Pessina has dedicated to this forgotten violinist. The title of this beautiful little box, with its booklet as informative as it is illustrated with rare photographs, is a warning: she was the last student of Jenő Hubay. Her rhapsode bow, with its evocative tones and flute-like high notes, clearly indicates that this violin comes from elsewhere, and probably from further back in time than that of her near compatriot from Transylvania, Johanna Martzy. The portamentos, the glissandos, the low attacks, as practiced by Szigeti, which give an expressionistic character to her phrasing, evoke the violin of the great Romantic era. Paradoxically, she was a muse of the moderns, and devoted herself wholeheartedly to the new works of her compatriots Hubay and Bartók, of course, as well as Dohnányi, Weiner, Zsolt, Harsányi, Veress, Farkas, Kovach, and Arma, who, at his home in the music studio of his pavilion, let me hear his Concert Divertimento, which I rediscover here in a recital given in Darmstadt with Atty Lengyel, the violinist's brother. The same program also included a Ravel Sonata, subtle to the point of being strange, and Poulenc's Sonata, acidic, devastating, and formidable. Among the Romantics, one might glean, rather than a Brahms Concerto conducted by Ansermet with the OSR (Orchestre de la Suisse Romande), where she seemed somewhat anxious, her complete recording of Schubert's works for violin and piano, prepared especially for Basel Radio. A bow that speaks volumes, a sense of fantasy, a sense of freedom—it will once again be fascinating to compare his Schubert to Johanna Martzy's. But also listen to his Mozart Sonata in F major before delving back into modern music, starting with Britten's Suite Op. 6. That this bow, so hungry for repertoire—you'll even find Richard Flury's 10th Sonata and Respighi's Autumn Poem—is finally being showcased in such a meticulously produced release is a joy! [JCH] |
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#02/2022 (UK)
This series of six volumes (33 CDs in all) has been important in drawing attention to Pietro Scarpini’s name. He was largely an absence in recording studios, his preference lying in private tapes, broadcasts and recitals, though he is remembered for his work with Furtwängler in Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto, a live performance that has been released by a number of labels, not least by Rhine Classics itself. [...] This is a well compiled and formidably performed set. Restorations are excellent and the documentation is pertinent and sports some fine photographic reproductions. It marks a fitting end to the Scarpini odyssey on this label. |
15 March 2022 | Jonathan Woolf ||
#01/2022 (FR)
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January 2022 | Jean-Michel Molkhou |
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#31/2021 (DE)
25 December 2021 | Christoph Schlüren | CRESCENDO | Überraschungen | Exzentrischer Meister Eccentric Master
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#30/2021 (FR)
Dec.2021/Jan.2022 | Jean-Charles Hoffelé | CLASSICA No.238 (pag.99) | Pietro SCARPINI (1911-1997) Rhine Classics brings together the unexpected legacy of a piano genius who left almost nothing on record. A small miracle. [JCH]
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#29/2021 (FR)
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#28/2021 (UK)
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#27/2021 (UK)
December 2021 | Rob Cowan | GRAMOPHONE (p.120-121) | REPLAY | Revelatory first releases and old favourites | GITLIS - In memoriam; SZERYNG - live in USA; SCARPINI - Mahler, etc In Ivry Gitlis, Carl Nielsen's Violin Concerto found a playful and animated spokesperson, one who inflects the notes with a birdlike touch and throws open the windows to greet the bracing Danish sunlight. [...] Rhine Classics' latest Gitlis release ('In memoriam') includes the only versions we have by him (as yet) not only of the Nielsen but also the Brahms and Beethoven Concertos [...]. The playing is typically airborne and quixotic, the silvery tone finely tapered with a generally (though not consistently) fast vibrato and a keen attack of the bow. [...] Other additions to Gitlis's repertoire on disc include a memorable bold account of Tchaikovsky's Piano Trio with Steven Isserlis and Nelson Goerner, where the two younger players follow Gitlis's lead and grasp the essence of the musical moment. Lalo's Symphonie espagnole rather resembles the famous pre-war recording by Gitlis's guiding musical star Bronislaw Huberman. [...] The Gitlis's 'disc premieres' don't end there. [...] then, perhaps most remarkable of all, a recording from Lugano in 2010 that finds the octogenarian miracle worker playing a Gershwin/Porter/Arlen sequence (pianist Cyril Barbessol) where he's totally 'in the zone', meaning forget such respectful 'straight men' as Perlman or Heifetz but think rather in terms of Grappelli, Stuff Smith or Ray Nance, real jazzers who while you hear them you can't imagine that they've ever laid eyes on a page of Beethoven. But Gitlis has, of course [...]. This has to be one of the great violin sets of the past decade, in mostly excellent sound [...]. Szeryng was a class act. Rhine Classics’ beautiful disc opens to two significant items where Szeryng is sensitively supported in 1971 by the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Michael Tilson Thomas: Chausson’s Poème; and Paganini’s Third Concerto [...]. The unique quality of this particular performance is the way it conjures the music’s affinity with the world of operetta, bubbly but openly sentimental, too. The disc's real highlight, though, is the Violin Concerto that Reynaldo Hahn composed in 1927. Szeryng's approach to this unaccountably neglected work is both radiant and, at times, imbued with a spirit of laughter. [...] Szeryng's bowing is incisive and crisp; he draws from his instrument both warmth and a brand of virtuosity that borders on sounding balletic. [...] Scarpini at white heat. [...] But what a boon to have some of Mahler' loveliest melodic writing embraced by a master pianist who really understands it. [...] Sacrpini's Mahler is followed by one of two masterpieces with piano and chorus that form the bulb of this remarkable set, Scriabin's Prometheus, a shimmering, otherworldly rendition under Piero Bellugi [...]. In Busoni's Indian Fantasy, Scarpini suggests Native American echoes fostered by a European sensibility, and there are interesting pieces by Dallapiccola (for violin and piano with violinist Snadro Materassi, taken from a 1973 LP) and Valentino Bucchi (Concerto in rondò). This really is an exceptional collection.
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#26/2021 (UK)
6 December 2021 | Jonathan Woolf | MusicWeb International | Ivry Gitlis - "in memoriam" A compendious and valuable Gitlis box, a fitting memorial and retrospective. Its highlights include works, such as the Brahms, that are new to his discography and the opportunities for contrasts between performances of the same work. Some of the earlier broadcasts are in mono – all CD1, the Sibelius with Devos on CD2, the Brahms in CD4, and obviously the whole of CD9, but the remainder seems to be in stereo. The fine restorations are in 24bit 96 kHz. There’s a first-class booklet with full performance details, excellently reproduced photographs, and label reproductions. The booklet note is by the man who made this box happen, Emilio Pessina, and the Gitlis discography, accurate up to June 2021, is by the indefatigable Jean-Michel Molkhou. Discographies are moveable feasts so let’s hope he will be updating it before too long. |
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#25/2021 (UK)
30 November 2021 | Stephen Greenbank | MusicWeb International | RECORDING OF THE YEAR 2021 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. |
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#24/2021 (UK)
18 November 2021 | Stephen Greenbank | MusicWeb International | Pietro Scarpini - Mahler … and beyond The sixth and final volume of a wonderful recorded legacy. This is the sixth and final volume in Rhine Classics’ Scarpini Edition, amounting to a total of 33 CDs. My reviews of the previous volumes can be found here (review ~ review ~ review ~ review ~ review). The Edition documents the pianist’s significant recordings, many of which were recorded privately. [...] In 1950, Scarpini made a two-piano transcription of movements 2-5 of Mahler’s Tenth Symphony. Using the overdubbing technique he performed both parts. The recording was made for Italian radio, 13 February 1950. The 16” 78rpm acetate transcription discs have scrubbed up well. Scriabin’s Prometheus (Poem of Fire) performance from 24 April 1968 has all the passion and fire of Richter’s recording. Scarpini’s grand scale playing is imposing and spectacular as he weaves in and out of the narrative, with Piero Bellugi keeping his forces firmly under control. The wordless chorus is impressive. [...] Scarpini was a great advocate of Busoni’s Piano Concerto. On February 3 1966 he performed it in Cleveland under George Szell as part of the composer’s centenary celebrations. Robert Shaw took care of the choral contributions. A pupil of Busoni, Edward Weiss, reckoned that Scarpini’s interpretation of the work matched that of the composer closer than that any other pianist. [...] Valentino Bucchi is a new name to me, and will probably be unknown to many, judging by the dearth of information on him on the internet. His Concerto in rondò, for piano and orchestra, penned in 1957, is an engaging work, neoclassically drafted, with angularity pitched against more serene and reflective moments. I like it very much, and for me it amounts to a new discovery. [...] Violinist Sandro Materassi joins forces with Scarpini for Dallapiccola’s Due Studi, for violin and piano. The first is a lugubrious Sarabande, contrasting strikingly with the jagged and dissonant Fanfare e Fuga. The four-movement Divertimento for violin and piano begins with a Pastorale, which sounds as if it’s being improvised on the spot. A Baroque-style Bourrée follows. The third movement has a hint of Paganiniana, whilst the finale is a set of variations on a declamatory chordal theme. The violin and piano items, a studio recording from 1973 released as an LP in Italy, are in a warm, cushioned intimate sound. [...] CD 5 is devoted to the Legendary Scriabin Recital given at the Sale Apollinee, Theatro La Fenice, Venice on 20 April 1963. Scarpini has a natural affinity for the composer’s piano music. His well-grounded technique favours exquisite voicing of chords, digital dexterity, layering of sound and stunning pianistic effects. His sensitive use of pedal enables him to coax myriad tonal shadings from the piano. His En Rêvant, Avec Une Grande Douceur from 2 Poèmes, Op 71 is a perfect example. He teases the rhythms, and is always alert to dynamic variance from whispering pianissimos to thundering fortissimos, and every gradient in between. His Vers la flamme (Towards the flame) is terrific, imbued with scorching volatility – real edge-of-the-seat stuff. So too is the final item of the recital the Sonata No 9, Op 68 ‘Black Mass’, perhaps the most famous of all Scriabin’s sonatas, played with an imaginative range of expression hardly equaled. |
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#23/2021 (FR)
Ivry Gitlis était devenu pour nous tous qui fréquentions les concerts parisiens une présence qui semblait éternelle. Le sourire toujours un peu moqueur, l’anecdote aisée, l’œil qui frise avant une petite saillie humoristique, au bras de Martha ou accompagné d’amis fidèles, il s’était fait une religion de venir entendre ses confrères. Qui aurait pu le penser mortel ? Certainement pas Emilio Pessina, qui après avoir publié un double album consacré à ses enregistrements de jeunesse s’était attelé à la mise au point de ce coffret, faisant écouter à Ivry les bandes d’archives qu’il dénichait. Finalement la mort sera passée par là, emportant le violoniste, et transformant ce coffret pensé pour qu’il soit publié de son vivant, en hommage. En rien un hommage funèbre ! Tous les visages du violoniste y paraissent, de ses années de pleine gloire au tournant des décennies 1950/1960 jusqu’en 2002 où il rejoignait Steven Isserlis et Nelson Goerner pour un Trio de Tchaïkovski comme venu d’un autre monde musical. Ces portamentos, ce vibrato de chanteuse, ces phrasés aux accents expressifs rappellent que Gitlis a fait perdurer dans un siècle, où les violonistes auront appris à gourmer un peu trop leurs archets, le style flamboyant hérité des grands princes de l’archet romantique. S’y ajoute un goût pour le jeu rhapsodique un peu tzigane, un imaginaire qui restera marqué par l’art de phraser et de danser d’une certaine musique ashkénaze, que la fantaisie native d’Ivry infusait à tout ce qu’il jouait. La moisson est abondante, évidemment inégale. L’entendre jouer le Concerto de Brahms avec tant de caractère donne soudain aux cadences de Joachim un parfum absolument tzigane, l’Orchestre de la Radio Roumaine trouvant sans peine à s’accorder à ce diapason stylistique singulier, mais en 1980, l’archet râpait déjà. Peu importe, quel feu ! Plus tardif encore (1995), le Beethoven venu du Japon, dont le Larghetto sonne comme un moment de grâce, aussi émacié d’archet qu’en soit le son. En musique de chambre, et même tardivement, il reste un fabuleux conteur avec Martha (la 9e Sonate de Beethoven) ou ses amis (Polina Leschenko pour la 3e de Brahms, Ana-Maria Vera pour la rare Sonate de Richard Strauss), mais le sommet de ces captations reste le grand bouquet de concertos enregistré durant les années 1960 et 1970, ainsi que la réédition de deux gravures VOX de 1954 et 1956, le Kammerkonzert de Berg et le Duo concertant de Stravinski ; pour l’un et l’autre paraît une pianiste de premier rang totalement oubliée aujourd’hui, Charlotte Lois Zelka. Il faut entendre la concentration de cet archet dans la Symphonie espagnole captée à Göteborg en 1968, le jeu sculptural qu’il met au Concerto de Nielsen magnifié par la direction abrupte de Marius Constant à l’inverse de celle d’André Jolivet qui marche sur des œufs dans le Concerto « A la mémoire d’un ange » de Berg, laissant le violoniste assumer seul une lecture mahlérienne, d’une émotion assumée. Folie !, le Finale du Sibelius avec Gérard Devos qui entraîne le Philharmonique dans une course incendiaire. Quel archet !, qui prend tous les risques et brûle ses cordes ! Admirable Ivry, tout entier vivant dans cette somme prodigieuse, ne la ratez pas ! For all of us who frequented Parisian concerts, Ivry Gitlis had become a seemingly eternal presence. Always with a slightly mischievous smile, a ready anecdote, and a twinkle in his eye before a witty remark, whether on Martha's arm or accompanied by close friends, he had made it a point to come and hear his colleagues. Who could have imagined his death? Certainly not Emilio Pessina, who, after releasing a double album devoted to his early recordings, had dedicated himself to putting together this box set, playing Ivry the archival tapes he unearthed. Ultimately, death intervened, taking the violinist and transforming this box set, conceived for release during his lifetime, into a tribute. Not at all a funeral tribute! All facets of the violinist are on display, from his years of greatest glory at the turn of the 1950s/60s to 2002, when he joined Steven Isserlis and Nelson Goerner for a Tchaikovsky Trio that seemed to come from another musical world. These portamentos, this singer's vibrato, these expressively accented phrases remind us that Gitlis perpetuated, in a century where violinists have perhaps learned to over-strike their bows, the flamboyant style inherited from the great masters of the Romantic bow. Added to this is a taste for a somewhat gypsy-like rhapsodic style, an imagination forever marked by the art of phrasing and dancing in a certain Ashkenazi music, which the native of Ivry infused into everything he played. The harvest is abundant, though admittedly uneven. Hearing him play the Brahms Concerto with such character suddenly gives Joachim's cadenzas an absolutely gypsy flavor, the Romanian Radio Orchestra finding it easy to match this singular stylistic pitch, but in 1980, the bow was already scraping. No matter, what fire! Even later (1995), the Beethoven from Japan, whose Larghetto sounds like a moment of grace, however thin the bowing may be. In chamber music, even later in his career, he remained a fabulous storyteller with Martha (Beethoven's 9th Sonata) or his friends (Polina Leschenko for Brahms's 3rd, Ana-Maria Vera for the rarely performed Richard Strauss Sonata), but the pinnacle of these recordings remains the large collection of concertos recorded during the 1960s and 1970s, as well as the reissue of two VOX recordings from 1954 and 1956: Berg's Kammerkonzert and Stravinsky's Duo Concertant. For both recordings, a first-rate pianist, now completely forgotten, appears: Charlotte Lois Zelka. You must hear the intense focus of that bow in the Spanish Symphony recorded in Gothenburg in 1968, the sculptural touch he brings to the Nielsen Concerto, magnified by Marius Constant's abrupt conducting, in stark contrast to André Jolivet's delicate approach in Berg's "To the Memory of an Angel" Concerto, leaving the violinist to carry out a Mahlerian interpretation of unabashed emotion. Folly! The Sibelius Finale with Gérard Devos sweeps the Philharmonic into a blazing frenzy. What a bow! Taking every risk and setting the strings ablaze! Admirable Ivry, fully alive in this prodigious collection—don't miss it! [JCH] |
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#22/2021 (UK)  Scarpini’s under-the-radar legacy continues to expand and impress. Rhine has focused extensively on the surviving legacy of Italian pianist Pietro Scarpini and you will find a number of their releases reviewed on this site. But Rhine wasn’t the only label to promote his recordings, as the late Allan Evans’ Arbiter label released a disc called ‘The Pietro Scarpini Edition’ (see review), the first of a projected series, which contained two of the performances in Rhine’s latest release. These were the Op.111 sonata and the recording by which Scarpini is best known, the Piano Concerto No.4 in the live RAI Rome performance with Furtwängler given in 1952. [...] The jump in sonics from previous restorations of the concerto to that presented by Arbiter was striking and very welcome. Quite a lot had had to be taken on trust before, but aurally things were clear and clean in their transfer and that’s the case here too, which is not surprising as I suspect that Arbiter had access to a high-quality original source, as does Rhine. I won’t repeat my comments about these two performances other than to note that one now has the opportunity to hear the two other Beethoven sonatas that Scarpini recorded on 13 March 1961 when he also performed Op.111 – namely Op.14/2 and the Pathétique. They share the resilient and technically strong elements – but above all the interpretative excellence – that so distinguished his reading of Op.111. [...] one can nevertheless admire this great Beethovenian in intimate action, his control well-nigh exemplary. It seems inconceivable, as it has throughout this entire series, that Scarpini only made one commercial recording, but he was a man who preferred the less glacial arenas of live performance and home taping. He is not alone in that. |
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#21/2021 (UK)
A handsome tribute. This 9 CD set, newly released by Rhine Classics, bears the title “in memoriam”. It celebrates the long and distinguished life of Ivry Gitlis. He died last December at the grand old age of ninety-eight, but it also looks forward to next year, which is the hundredth anniversary of his birth. [...] These radio broadcasts, live airings, original masters, 78s and LP recordings have been splendidly compiled and the 24bit 96 kHz restorations have been lovingly tendered. These new-comers significantly expand the Gitlis discography. The booklet offers some beautifully reproduced photographs of the violinist. There’s one photograph at the end of the booklet showing Ivry Gitlis pictured with the set’s producer Emilio Pessina which, in some way, attests to the devotion Pessina has to the artist. Jean-Michel Molkhou has provided an up to date complete discography of the violinist, running to some thirteen pages; I found it very useful. All told, this collection is a handsome tribute to a great violinist, whose individuality and sometimes maverick approach singles him out as an artist worthy of your attention. |
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#20/2021 (UK)
Two works new to Szeryng’s studio discography makes this an appetising release. Whilst live performances by Szeryng are not uncommon it’s always exciting when hearing him perform works he never recorded commercially and that’s the case with Chausson’s Poème and Reynaldo Hahn’s Concerto. [...] The Chausson receives a vivid, masculine reading which vests the music with a real sense of drama far removed from some rather more evanescent performances. Though oriented toward the Franco-Belgian school, Szeryng here marries tonal purity with expressive breadth and a real sense of theatrical flair. The orchestra, invariably tagged as the most Gallic of American ensembles, plays its role too as does Tilson Thomas whose accompaniment matches Szeryng’s in boldness, drawing out the music’s full complement of romantic fervour. There’s no question that Szeryng’s rich vibrancy is gloriously on show here. [...] The music’s fearsome demands are surmounted with evangelical bravura by Szeryng, and he and Tilson Thomas relish Paganini’s explicitly Rossinian élan. Rhythmically the results are biting and exciting, and Szeryng is just as fine in the graceful cantabile of the slow movement, as the violin spins its succulent line over accompanying orchestral pizzicati figures, as in the magnificently bowed Polacca finale, with a full array of soloistic colour. [...] The Hahn is an exceptional rarity on disc. Szeryng is especially effective in the intermezzo-like lyric beauty of the slow movement, where Hahn’s orchestration is both apt and precise, as he is in the vif et gai pirouetting of the acrobatic finale. Though he is on less Olympian form than in the Paganini and Chausson works, this is a fortunate survival as Szeryng was to die just over three months later. |
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#19/2021 (UK)
Performances which certainly do honour to the music. This volume is devoted to Beethoven and consists of a live solo recital given in Milan on 13 March 1961, a concerto recording dated 19 January 1952 and three home studio recordings from the 1970s. [...] The 1952 live recording of the Furtwängler/Scarpini/RAI Beethoven Piano Concerto No 4 has had several incarnations on CD, and collectors will be familiar with the performance. I’m told that many are poor-sounding, certainly the Urania release that I’m familiar with is. Comparing it to this new transfer suggests that Emilio Pessina has had access to excellent source material. Whereas the Urania transfer is muddy and dimly lit, this remastering restores a favorable balance between soloist and orchestra, and the overall picture isn’t as sonically constricted. The piano line is brighter and more defined. Furtwängler is a sensitive partner and is with the soloist all the way, allowing a certain amount of freedom and flexibility. The finale, though not as fast as some, is nevertheless rhythmically buoyant and engaging. [...] The booklet contains a cameo portrait of the pianist by the producer and audio restorer Emilio Pessina in addition to some interesting black and white photographs of the artist. Detailed track listings, timings and dates are included. As to the audio quality, these documents derive from a variety of sources and have undergone 24bit 96 kHz remastering. The Milan recital sounds excellent. The 1952 concerto recording, whilst not having the same cleanness, projects the Scarpini tone very well. The home studios have the intimacy and closeness one would expect. I totally concur with Mr. Pessina who lauds Scarpini as a “true interpreter of the classics”. |
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#18/2021 (UK)
[...] the second concert, dated 20 November 1987, features the Violin Concerto of Reynaldo Hahn. Szeryng’s crisp, incisive bowing adds spice and sparkle to the proceedings. These are live recordings and the applause has been retained to evoke the live concert experience. The sound quality cannot be faulted, and one can only assume that Emilio Pessina, the producer and audio restorer, has had access to fine source material. The booklet is written by Gary Lemco who discusses both Szeryng’s art and the background and context to the works performed. It’s certainly a disc to treasure. |
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#17/2021 (UK)
July 2021 | Rob Cowan | GRAMOPHONE | GREAT MUSICIANS from under the Radar: Aldo FERRARESI & Pietro SCARPINI
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#16/2021 (FR)   4 ☆☆☆☆ | May 2021 | Jean-Michel Molkhou | DIAPASON No.700 | Gabriella Lengyel
Des disciples de Jeno Hubay, Gabriella Lengyel est sans doute l'une des plus oubliées. [...] Ce généreux coffret à l'appareil éditorial exemplaire ne se contente pas d'exhumer sa très modeste discographie officielle, il la complète par des archives radio suisses inédits et souvent d'une excellente qualité sonore. Le répertoire, considérable, inclut des concertos de Hubay et Respighi (avec Jan Koetsier), Lalo (Max Sturzenegger), Brahms (Ernest Ansermet), Haydn (Urs Joseph Flury). A une vaste collection de sonates s'ajoutent une intégrale des oeuvres pour violon et piano de Schubert (avec son frère Atty au piano) ainsi que de nombreuses pages de XXe siècle, notamment hongroises. La violoniste, dotée d'une sonorité vibrante et d'un style typique de son école d'origine, révèle une personnalité attachante, un pathétisme à fleur de peau. A ce titre, son concerto de Brahms, capté live à Genève le 15 Octobre 1958, est d'une intensité rappelant Joahanna Martzy, autre élève de Hubay, sans atteindre néanmoins sa suprème maitrise technique. [...] L'Opus 78 de Brahms (en Studio à Paris en 1951, avec Max Geiger) est habité d'une touchante tendresse. [...] Pour les amateurs de raretés. [JMM]
Of Jeno Hubay's disciples, Gabriella Lengyel is undoubtedly one of the most overlooked. [...] This generous box set, with its exemplary editorial production, not only unearths her very modest official discography, but also supplements it with previously unreleased Swiss radio archives, often of excellent sound quality. The considerable repertoire includes concertos by Hubay and Respighi (with Jan Koetsier), Lalo (Max Sturzenegger), Brahms (Ernest Ansermet), and Haydn (Urs Joseph Flury). A vast collection of sonatas is complemented by a complete cycle of Schubert's works for violin and piano (with his brother Atty at the piano), as well as numerous 20th-century pieces, particularly Hungarian works. The violinist, endowed with a vibrant tone and a style typical of her school of origin, reveals an engaging personality and a palpable, raw emotion. In this respect, his Brahms concerto, recorded live in Geneva on October 15, 1958, possesses an intensity reminiscent of Johanna Martzy, another of Hubay's students, though it doesn't quite reach her supreme technical mastery. [...] The Brahms Opus 78 (recorded in a Paris studio in 1951 with Max Geiger) is imbued with a touching tenderness. [...] For lovers of rarities. [JMM]
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#15/2021 (DE)
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May 2021 | 
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#14/2021 (UK)
April 2021 | Rob Cowan | GRAMOPHONE (pg. 89) | BOX-SET Round-up | Rob Cowan revisits the recordings 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.
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#13/2021 (UK)
The documentation of Sergio Fiorentino’s tours continues with this 9-CD box that contains American concert performances given between 1996-98. Rhine Classics has retained concert integrity, and doesn’t intersperse performances from one concert throughout the box, allowing one to hear whole performances except for those occasions when too much duplication would have been involved, even for his greatest admirers. The result is either a complete concert or items from complete concerts. [...] The various Newport Music Festival concerts and venues are outlined in the excellent booklet and there is an index of works performed as well as detailed track listings. Everything has been remastered to a high degree except where the original source material is inevitably somewhat compromised (that Alice Tully Hall concert but it’s the only such example). Some photographs grace the booklet – there’s a very good one of the charmingly reserved Fiorentino, in tie and tails, and the looming Igor Kipnis, for example - and some of the programmes are reprinted along with some of the adulatory critical responses from the local critics. Add this to your Rhine Classics’ Rachmaninov set and his Taiwan disc and then consider it alongside his Berlin recordings to reach a truly impressive overview of Fiorentino in the 1990s. |
6 April 2021 | Jonathan Woolf | MusicWeb International | |
#12/2021 (FR)
[...] le pianiste napolitain déboutonna son piano dans un programme conclu par un feu d'artifice de pièces de virtuosité. Le public de l'East Coast avait trouvé son nouveau Jorge Bolet. [...] des raretés jouées avec une élégance poétique venue d'un autre temps [...] où la fantaisie s'allie à un chic irrésistible, enthousiasmant le public. [...] the Neapolitan pianist unbuttoned his piano in a program that concluded with a fireworks display of virtuosity. The East Coast audience had found its new Jorge Bolet. [...] rarities played with a poetic elegance from another era [...] where whimsy combined with irresistible chic, thrilling the audience. [JCH]
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#11/2021 (UK)
Life-enriching performances. This recently released 9CD collection from Rhine Classics documents Sergio Fiorentino’s live performances in the USA between 1996 and 1998. [...] He opens three of his recitals with Bach, transcribed by Busoni. There’s clarity of articulation and delineation of polyphonic lines in the fugues, with the preludes grandiloquent and soul-searching. [...] Poetry, intimacy and warmth inform Schubert’s Sonata in B flat, D960. Fiorentino has full measure of the work’s architecture and structure. The dark elemental forces of the slow movement make their presence felt, with the bright and joyous Scherzo providing some relieving balm. The genial song-like character of the outer movements of the Sonata in A major D 664 is a welcome counterpoise to the melancholic and bittersweet flavour of the central Andante. [...] It’s worth mentioning a superb performance of the epic Chopin's Fourth Ballade from Boston Radio on CD 9. It captures the striking contrasts between tender lyricism and violent drama. [...] Scriabin’s Piano Sonata No 2 in G-sharp minor, Op 19 “Sonata-Fantasy”. Fiorentino’s impressionistic colours and myriad shadings conjure a mystical effect, and the second movement’s pianissimos are breathtaking. [...] It’s pleasing to hear the pianist in chamber music collaborations, and there are two marvelous examples in the collection. Beethoven’s Quintet in E-flat Major for Piano and Winds, Op 16 [...] the Franck Quintet, taped in Newport a year earlier, is a reading of emotional urgency and smouldering potency. The wistful slow movement radiates an autumnal glow, with the framing outer movements heated and intense.. [...] The material derives from several sources and has been expertly restored by the 24bit/96Khz remastering process. The audio quality throughout is, for the most part, very good. The booklet includes detailed track listings and timings, in addition to a selection of contemporary reviews of the concerts by eminent critics. Photographs of Fiorentino relaxing at the pool table are a pleasing bonus. A quote from Eric Johnson, Director of Yamaha Artist Services (October 1998), encapsulates what this compelling collection has to offer: “My life is richer from having known and heard him”. |
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#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. [...]
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#9/2021 (UK)
 16 March 2021 | Stephen Greenbank | MusicWeb International | Gabriella Lengyel - Hubay’s last pupil Gabriella Lengyel was born in Budapest in 1920 and began learning the violin at the city’s Franz Liszt Academy at the age of only five. By fifteen she’d completed all the courses with distinction, obtaining a diploma in violin. She then went to Jenő Hubay and Edouard Zathureczky, who applied the finishing touches. [...] In 1946 she clinched 2nd Prize in the International Long-Thibaud Competition, and two years later the Grand Prix at the Carl Flesch Competition in London. That same year she fled the Hungarian communist regime and settled in Paris, where she took up a teaching post at the Conservatoire. In 1950 she formed the Trio Lengyel with her two musician brothers Atty and André. She died in Paris in 1993. Throughout her career she worked with some of the most renowned conductors of the day, including Ansermet, Fricsay, van Beinum, Jochum, Solti, Enescu, Casals and Mengelberg. As far as recordings go, she recorded only three commercial LPs in Paris – two private releases for Voxigrave in 1951, and one for Ducretet-Thomson in 1953. Some of these are included in this collection. [...] In early 1953, the Duo Legyel set down in the studio of Schweizer Radio in Basel the complete works for violin and piano by Franz Schubert. They are to be found across CDs 4 and 5. These are some of the loveliest works in the repertoire and the Duo offer elegant, stylistic and idiomatic performances. In the three Sonatinas, touched by the influence of Mozart, they emphasize the youthful nature of the music. In the more mature Duo Sonata of 1817 the composer finds his own voice, with the work free of stylistic influences. The finale is particularly fine, here bristling with energy and joy. The Fantasie, Schubert’s masterpiece from 1827, is probably the most frequently performed and recorded of his violin and piano works. The central variation section, on the theme Sei mir gegrüsst, is characterful. In short, it’s a fully integrated performance and stands shoulder to shoulder with some of the very best recorded versions. [...] Those seeking off the beaten track repertoire need look no further, as there’s an ample selection here. Lengyel did much to champion her contemporary fellow Hungarian composers, and several are represented in the set. [...] This wonderful collection, approved by the violinist’s brother Attila (Atty) just a year before his death in 2018, preserves the legacy of this significant artist. The 24bit 96 kHz restorations by Emilio Pessina are first-class and bring new life to these valuable aural documents. The documentation is superb, and the cache of photographs is an added bonus. This is a collection I wouldn’t like to be without. |
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#8/2021 (FR)
1 March 2021 | Maciej Chiżyński | ResMusica | Jean Ter-Merguerian, un grand talent méconnu Rhine Classics publie un coffret de cinq disques dévolu à des enregistrements inconnus du violoniste arménien Jean Ter-Merguerian. Une belle découverte. [...] Voici un album englobant plus de six heures de prestations intéressantes voire envoûtantes, offrant un bel aperçu de la carrière d’un artiste qui échappait aux clichés et qui ne recherchait pas la notoriété. Avec un excellent travail de restauration dû à Emilio Pessina, cette parution s’impose comme un must have pour les amoureux du violon. [MC] Rhine Classics has released a five-disc set of previously unreleased recordings by the Armenian violinist Jean Ter-Merguerian. A wonderful discovery. [...] This album comprises over six hours of engaging and even captivating performances, offering a fascinating glimpse into the career of an artist who defied stereotypes and did not seek fame. With excellent restoration work by Emilio Pessina, this release is a must-have for violin lovers. [MC] |
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#7/2021 (UK)
24 February 2021 | Jonathan Woolf | MusicWeb International | Gabriella Lengyel - Jenő Hubay’s last pupil Gabriella Lengyel (1920-1993) was indeed, as the box announces, Jenő Hubay’s last pupil. Born in Budapest she began at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in the city, winning distinctions and completing all her courses at the age of fifteen, before continuing with Hubay and, after his death in 1937, Ede Zathureczky. She won second prize at the Sixth International Violin Competition in Vienna 1937, but the outbreak of war curtailed a burgeoning career. In 1946 she won another second place, this time at the prestigious International Long-Thibaud competition in Paris, but in 1948 fled Hungary and lived in Paris where she established a long-standing duo with her brother Attila (or Atty). In 1950 they formed a trio with their brother Endre. She performed in Casals’ Prades orchestra (a photograph in the booklet shows her fiddling away) and she made a very few LPs. She taught for many years whilst maintaining a European-based career, making visits to Switzerland, in particular, where she broadcast often for Radio Basel. [...] Disc 1 brings her teacher Hubay’s Concerto No 3 and Respighi’s Poema autunnale, both with the Bamberg Symphony and Jan Koetsier in 1954. She is much faster than a modern exponent like Hagai Shaham and catches the music’s fluid fantasia quality with great rhythmic precision and sense of colour. Her bowing is crisp in the Scherzo, there is noble ardour and moving intensity in the Adagio, and there is zest in the finale where she negotiates the cadenza with bravura. Vilmos Szabadi and Aaron Rosand made good recordings of this but Lengyel characterises even deeper. Respighi’s work was dedicated to Mario Corti and contemporaries such as Lydia Mordkovitch play it quite deliberately. Even Ricci did so. Nishizaki on Marco Polo however approaches Lengyel in taut sweetness, even more so than Julia Fischer in her 2010 recording on Decca. Lengyel negotiates its changes in mood, tempo and texture at a decisive tempo and her evocative playing is alluring throughout. [...] |
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#6/2021 (UK)
January 2021 | Jonathan Woolf | MusicWeb International | Pietro Scarpini, Vol.4 - BACH [...] In this new 6-CD set, everything is by Bach; both books of the Well-Tempered Clavier and The Art of Fugue. Book I was recorded by RAI, Rome over three successive days in January 1961, in good mono sound. RAI’s original master tapes are lost and it was fortunate that the pianist retained his own set in his archive and it’s these that Rhine has used for its remastering. You will search in vain for signs of quixotic caprice in Scarpini’s performance. There is instead a tremendous sense of concentration and clarity, the music propelled where appropriate by animated left-hand voicings that ensure buoyancy but never overbalance the music making. [...] He is lively and robust but it’s always controlled. He uses the pedal with discretion but always with purpose and ensures that in the Fugue of No.21 the music swells with due amplitude. The concluding Fugue, the complex B minor, is given time to weave its spell. [...] He turned to the second book in the mid-70s, this time in his home studio. Whilst the majority of Book II is in mono, seven Preludes and Fugues are in stereo. His ability to phrase with unselfconscious naturalness and to balance the demands of both hands is here undimmed. The playing is again refined without becoming academic, rhythmically alive without becoming aggressive. [...] The following year, at his home studio but this time in St Moritz, he recorded himself performing The Art of Fugue ending precisely where Bach stopped. Scarpini was not quite 65 when he set down, in the course of one day, the whole work. That his technique was so formidable can’t be doubted and there are, throughout the six and a half hours of this set, very few smudges or imperfections and such as exist are largely immaterial. So it is in The Art of Fugue. Scarpini’s touch is refined, his imagination alert, his intellectual equipment attuned to the complex tapestries to be conveyed. It is a measure of his success that one listens in one uninterrupted span to his imaginative but stoically focused playing. |
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#5/2021 (UK)
January 2021 | Jonathan Woolf | MusicWeb International | Jean Ter-Merguerian: The Soul of the Violin [...] Rhine Classics’ survey starts with his visit to Boston in June 1975 where he joined Arthur Fiedler, by all accounts deeply impressed by the performance, in Brahms’ Violin Concerto. [...] Fiedler conducts with vigour and Ter-Merguerian plays with sonorous attention to detail, clean, finely bowed and eschewing extraneous gestures. He takes a tempo in the finale reminiscent of Heifetz’s and drives with intensity throughout the movement. [...] He plays Bach’s Chaconne with a delicacy that avoids contrasts, preferring a linear clarity and directness. This single-minded approach operates on a narrower expressive bandwidth than more showy performances but is also more interior and less projected. [...] there seem to be no other available examples of his art, which makes this 5-CD set attractive to specialists in the field. |
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#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. [JMM] [...] Admired - notably for his bow technique - by Szeryng, Francescatti or Rostropovich, he leaves no official discography. This shows that this box set, with its very well-documented instructions and bringing together unpublished concert and radio recordings, brings a very talented violinist from oblivion. It opens with an interpretation strongly inspired by Brahms' concerto, recorded in public in Boston in 1975 under the baton of Arthur Fiedler, in which the mastery of Ter-Merguerian impresses. [...] two demonstrations of his art solo, in a masterful vision of Chaconne (Bach), all imprint of humanity, and in Sonata nr.3 by Ysaye. [...] Thus his vision, as incandescent as poignant, of the Khachaturian concerto in 1964, and several miniatures of Prokofiev, Sarasate, or Komitas already attest a strong personality as much as a sparkling virtuosity. [...] To discover without hesitation. [JMM]
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#3/2021 (FR)
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#2/2021 (CA)
16 January 2021 | Mark Ainley | The Piano Files | Favourite Releases of 2020 Rhine Classics delivers two more releases in their Fiorentino and Scarpini series, one new set of each artist. After 2019’s jaw-dropping complete Rachmaninoff solo music by Sergio Fiorentino, 2020 saw a 9-CD set of the Italian pianist in recital in the US in the last three years of his life (1996-98). All master tapes were provided by Ernst Lumpe, the German collector who brought Fiorentino back to the concert stage and the studio (Lumpe introduced me to his playing when I first visited him in 1990). The sound is superb, as is the playing throughout – always insightful, moving, individual yet idiomatic. There is one recital at which he experienced some memory lapses, but even there his playing was mesmerizing, and each disc features some of the most sublime pianism you could hope to hear – every note, phrase, piece is beautifully played. |
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#1/2021 (FR)
David Oistrakh, l’entendant gamin, le prit sous son aile. Jean Ter-Merguerian trouva en lui plus qu’un professeur, un second père : il lui donna sa majestueuse technique d’archet qui bluffa tous ses collègues et lui valut de remporter le Long-Thibaud en 1961. Henryk Szeryng l’adouba, stupéfié certes par la pureté de sa technique mais aussi par l’éloquence de son jeu, le rayonnement classique de son style. Le Finale du Concerto pour violon de Beethoven qui le sacra lors du concours fut filmé et se voit sur YouTube, le son en est reproduit dans ce coffret qui assemble des documents jusque-là introuvables, provenant en grande part des archives familiales. Qu’un tel musicien n’ait pas suscité l’intérêt des éditeurs phonographiques reste un mystère, d’autant que les violonistes de cette qualité n’étaient pas légion au début des années soixante. La beauté épurée de sa sonorité, l’ampleur de ses phrasés, la haute spiritualité qu’il met à ses Sonates de Beethoven (écoutez le concert marseillais avec Pierre Barbizet) ou l’imaginaire subtil dont il pare la Première Sonate de Brahms (ses pizzicatos impondérables dans la section centrale du Vivace) font regretter qu’on ne puisse disposer de l’intégralité de son répertoire, mais du moins le coffret offre deux concertos qui montrent son génie : à Boston, pour Arthur Fiedler, un Brahms dont le Finale emporte l’audience d’admiration, et perle absolue qui permet de le placer au même degré que son maître David Oistrakh, en 1963 à Yerevan, le Concerto de Khachaturian, dont le Finale atteint tout de la perfection électrique et du sentiment de rêve éveillé, que seul y mit avant lui Julian Sitkovetsky. Entendez cet archet stellaire ! David Oistrakh, hearing him play as a child, took him under his wing. Jean Ter-Merguerian found in him more than a teacher, a second father: he imparted to him his majestic bowing technique, which astounded all his colleagues and earned him the Long-Thibaud Prize in 1961. Henryk Szeryng endorsed him, amazed not only by the purity of his technique but also by the eloquence of his playing and the classical radiance of his style. The Finale of Beethoven's Violin Concerto, which won him the competition, was filmed and can be seen on YouTube; the sound is reproduced in this box set, which brings together previously unavailable recordings, largely from the family archives. That such a musician did not attract the interest of record labels remains a mystery, especially since violinists of this caliber were few and far between in the early 1960s. The pure beauty of his sound, the breadth of his phrasing, the profound spirituality he brings to his Beethoven Sonatas (listen to the Marseille concert with Pierre Barbizet), and the subtle imagination with which he adorns Brahms's First Sonata (his ethereal pizzicatos in the central section of the Vivace) make one regret that his entire repertoire is not available. However, this set at least offers two concertos that showcase his genius: in Boston, for Arthur Fiedler, a Brahms whose Finale captivates the audience with admiration, and an absolute gem that places him on the same level as his teacher David Oistrakh; and in 1963 in Yerevan, the Khachaturian Concerto, whose Finale achieves the electric perfection and dreamlike quality that only Julian Sitkovetsky had previously attained. Listen to that stellar bow! [JCH] |
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#14/2020 (FR)
On sait la carrière à éclipses de Sergio Fiorentino, tardivement renouée, et plus encore magnifiée au long des ultimes années. Ce pianiste racé, qui aurait mérité la renommée d’Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli (lequel l’admirait comme le « seul autre pianiste »), mais n’avait pas de bolides à offrir à l’appétit des journalistes, aura vécu son art dans le secret de son atelier, professeur d’abord depuis que l’univers des concerts et des disques avaient écœuré chez lui une noblesse native renforcée par la certitude que le monde qui l’entourait n’était pas le sien. Les accidents de la vie le forcèrent à ce retrait, mais on vint le chercher, sa légende n’était pas morte, Aldo Ciccolini lorsque je lui demandais sans impertinence un jour chez lui à Asnières qui était le plus grand pianiste italien vivant, me répondit du tac au tac : « Fiorentino ». On vint le chercher, et il revint, pour des disques, pour des concerts, en Europe évidemment, mais aussi loin qu’à Taiwan, son cœur incertain se moquait du stress de l’avion, pourvu qu’au bout du voyage, il y eut un concert et surtout un piano. Il aimait les pianos, les voyait comme des paradis. Les Etats-Unis, où il avait joué jeune homme et contracté un amour déraisonnable du Coca-Cola, l’enchantaient ; il avait gardé un souvenir enthousiaste de New York, cette ville qui comme lui ne dormait jamais, et la retrouver pour des récitals durant les trois dernières années de sa vie, lui fut un baume. Un prodigieux concert Chopin à Newport en 1997 le montre d’une fantaisie et d’une élégance folle, ce piano-là est d’un autre temps, et c’est un éden. La joie le transfigure comme dans tout ce qu’il égrainera sur des scènes plus ou moins prestigieuses, et sur des pianos qui sont ce qu’ils sont mais ne résistent pas à qui les aime autant. Ecoutez comment il se débrouille de celui du Breakers de Newport, au clavier un peu lourd pour les Métamorphoses symphoniques que Leopold Godowsky fait subir à Johann Strauss ; l’année suivante, pour le récital Chopin, il sera mieux réglé). Au long de ses concerts, Sergio Fiorentino égrène son répertoire de prédilection, la Deuxième Sonate de Scriabine, des Rachmaninov saturés de couleurs dont une Deuxième Sonate qu’il paysage dans le plus profond de son piano, la si bémol de Schubert au trille de rossignol (car les rossignols chantent dans le grave), des Valses de Brahms, choisies parce qu’aimées, et des raretés qui pour lui étaient monnaie courante, comme le Thème et Variations de Tchaïkovski, et même comme au débotté, le Quintette avec vents de Beethoven, ou le Quintette de Franck. Mais ses Adieux et son Opus 110 de Beethoven, sa Fantaisie de Schumann, rappellent qu’il regardait l’essentiel du répertoire de son instrument en n’en sachant tout, et qu’il le jouait ainsi, avant, avec l’élégance d’un prince, jusqu’à promener ses doigts dans les fantaisies d’ivoire et d’ébène des Valses du Rosenkavalier qu’il s’était arrangées pour lui, en reprenant la transcription de Singer pour la pimenter de personnages. Tout cela est ici, enclos dans cette boîte parfaite, patiemment ouvragée par Emilio Pessina, et je l’en remercie. [JCH] We know of Sergio Fiorentino's intermittent career, which was revived late in life and even more magnificent in his final years. This refined pianist, who deserved the renown of Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli (who admired him as "the only other pianist"), but who had no flashy cars to offer to the journalists' appetites, lived his art in the seclusion of his studio, initially as a teacher since the world of concerts and recordings had sickened his innate sense of nobility, reinforced by the certainty that the world around him was not his own. Life's misfortunes forced him into this retreat, but people came looking for him; his legend was not dead. When I asked Aldo Ciccolini, without impertinence, one day at his home in Asnières who the greatest living Italian pianist was, he replied without hesitation: "Fiorentino." They came to get him, and he returned, for recordings, for concerts, in Europe of course, but also as far away as Taiwan. His restless heart scoffed at the stress of flying, provided that at the end of the journey there was a concert and, above all, a piano. He loved pianos, saw them as paradises. The United States, where he had played as a young man and developed an unreasonable love for Coca-Cola, enchanted him; he had retained an enthusiastic memory of New York, that city which, like him, never slept, and returning there for recitals during the last three years of his life was a balm to his soul. A prodigious Chopin concert in Newport in 1997 showcased him with a wild imagination and elegance; that piano was from another era, and it was an Eden. Joy transforms him, as it does in everything he performs on stages both prestigious and less so, and on pianos that, while undeniably beautiful, cannot resist those who love them so much. Listen to how he handles the one at the Breakers in Newport, its keyboard a little heavy for the Symphonic Metamorphoses that Leopold Godowsky inflicts upon Johann Strauss; the following year, for the Chopin recital, it will be better tuned. Throughout his concerts, Sergio Fiorentino presents his favorite repertoire: Scriabin's Second Sonata, Rachmaninov's richly colored works, including a Second Sonata which he imbues with the very depths of his piano; Schubert's B-flat with its nightingale trill (because nightingales sing in the lower register); Brahms Waltzes, chosen because they are beloved; and rarities that are commonplace for him, such as Tchaikovsky's Theme and Variations, and even, seemingly on the spur of the moment, Beethoven's Wind Quintet or Franck's Quintet. But his Farewell performance and Beethoven's Opus 110, his Schumann Fantasy, remind us that he approached the core repertoire of his instrument without knowing everything, and that he played it with the elegance of a prince, even going so far as to explore the ivory and ebony fantasies of the Waltzes of Der Rosenkavalier, which he had arranged for himself, adapting Singer's transcription and adding his own characters. All of this is here, enclosed in this perfect case, patiently crafted by Emilio Pessina, and I thank him for it. [JCH] |
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#13/2020 (FR)
16 December 2020 | Yves Riesel | COUACS | L'AVENIR DU PASSÉ - Numéro 2 Jean Ter-Merguerian, ce nom ne vous dira peut-être rien. L’itinéraire de vie de cet artiste exceptionnel a sans doute contribué à le gommer du paysage. Il est heureux que la dévotion du violoniste Amara Tir, son élève, et la curiosité du label (taïwanais ! ) Rhine Classics, permettent de remettre un peu l’église au milieu du village. Jean Ter-Merguerian — the name might not ring a bell. The life story of this exceptional artist has undoubtedly contributed to his being largely forgotten. It is fortunate that the devotion of violinist Amara Tir, his student, and the curiosity of the (Taiwanese!) label Rhine Classics, are helping to restore his reputation. |
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#12/2020 (UK)
13 December 2020 | Stephen Greenbank | MusicWeb International | Jean Ter-Merguerian: The Soul of the Violin Once again, Rhine Classics have come to the rescue with an impressive cache of rare material in the form of live and radio recordings. [...] This superb collection, all the more treasured for the rarity value of Ter-Merguerian recordings, has been fondly remastered. Emilio Pessina's restorations have given them new currency. The booklet contains several photos of interest, which preserve the memory of this great, but largely forgotten, artist. This release will win a warm place in the affections of violin fanciers the world over. |
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#11/2020 (UK)
4 December 2020 | Stephen Greenbank | MusicWeb International | Pietro Scarpini, Vol.4 - Bach In The Well-Tempered Clavier, we find a piece to suit "every mood and every occasion". Scarpini’s are deeply thought out interpretations, and he digs deep into the fathomless riches on offer. He’s never self-conscious or contrived. Shunning waywardness and extremes, personal mannerisms have no place in these clean cut readings. The intellectual and technical challenges are firmly within his grasp. [...] The recording of The Art of Fugue has a warm, intimate aura about it. [...] Scarpini’s gifts lie in his ability to make every line speak. It’s not all seriousness either. There is serious formality, but he’s able to infuse humour and high spirits where warranted. The more complex contrapuntal thickets are rescued from congestion by his teasing away the inner contrapuntal lines to reveal the jewels that lie therein, at the same time attaining potent cumulative power. I love the balance he strikes between the voices, never allowing one to dominate. His exquisite touch and sensitive use of pedal, where appropriate, facilitates the achievement of some luminous sonorities. This is certainly a performance that plumbs the depths of this elusive masterpiece. [...] Restorations and remasterings are in 24bit 96kHz sound, and Emilio Pessina has done a sterling job. In the ’from Baroque to Contemporary’ box I reviewed, I recall being beguiled by the Scarpini’s Bach, in transcriptions by the pianist himself and Ferruccio Busoni, and commented on the freshness and vitality of the playing, remarking that they sounded ‘fresh off the press’. I’m now firmly convinced that Pietro Scarpini a Bach player to be reckoned with. |
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#10/2020 (DE)
BEST OF 2020 | Neue Musikzeitung | December 2020 - January 2021 | nmz 12/20-1/21 (p.14) | Christoph Schlüren Und unbedingt muss das wagemutige Unternehmen des italienischen Tonmeisters und Violinpapsts Emilio Pessina genannt werden, der seine Anthologien bei Rhine Classics in Taiwan herausgibt. Da sind ganz neu umfassende Schatzkisten erschienen von Gabriella Lengyel, der letzten Schülerin Hubays, überwiegend mit ihrem Bruder, dem vorzüglichen Pianisten Atty Lengyel, von wunderbarem Schubert und Mendelssohn zu Entlegenem vor allem ungarischer Meister wie Harsányi, Veress oder Arma; fast nur Live-Aufnahmen von Jean Ter-Merguerian, in den Augen von Kollegen wie Rostropowitsch, Szeryng, Francescatti und Ferras einer der großartigsten Geiger überhaupt (einen schöneren, edleren Ton gibt es nicht!), ganz groß in Beethoven, Brahms und Khachaturian; späte Konzertmitschnitte (1996–98) des Meisterpianisten Sergio Fiorentino aus den USA, darunter auch hinreißend musizierte Kammermusik wie Francks Quintett oder Beethovens Quintett mit Bläsern; und vom legendären Pietro Scarpini zu Hause gemachte Aufnahmen des kompletten Wohltemperierten Klaviers und der Kunst der Fuge in kristalliner Klarheit (alles bei Rhine Classics, erstaunlich preiswert direkt von der Website zu beziehen). [CS]
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). [CS] |
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#9/2020 (UK)
ROTY-2020 | 1 December 2020 | Stephen Greenbank | MusicWeb International | Recordings Of The Year 2020 (page 10) Looking back over this awful year, where coronavirus has disrupted the lives of everyone, and many have sadly lost loved ones, reviewing has been one of the elements in my life to add some sanity and restore some balance. I've had the pleasure of savouring several interesting box sets, and these I've concentrated on for my Recordings of the Year. Franco Gulli (violin) reDiscovered - Rhine Classics RH-005. Rhine Classics are to be lauded for unearthing this wealth of live and studio recordings of the Italian violinist Franco Gulli, which span a period of forty years from 1957 to 1997. He's an artist definitely worthy of attention and this treasure trove will both delight and intrigue. Full Review |
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#8/2020 (USA)
French-Armenian violin virtuoso Jean Ter-Merguerian (1935-2015) had been unknown to me prior to this Rhine Classics issue by the devoted producer Emilio Pessina, but those days are over! Testimony as to his innate musical mastery comes from such luminaries as Zino Francescatti, Henryk Szeryng – among the judges at 1961 Ninth Long-Thibaud Competition in 1961 – Christian Ferras, and Mstislav Rostropovich, who had asserted, “Merguerian possesses the most perfect bow technique in all the world, of all stringed instruments combined.” [...] For a compendium Ter-Merguerian’s sublime control of violin effects, few works suffice with such a grand scale as the Chaconne from Bach’s Partita in D Minor, which adds to the challenges an emphasis on articulation and stamina of contrapuntal line. [...] I want to extend my thanks for revealing an artist in Ter-Merguerian of awesome power and integrity, a rival to Kogan, Ferras, and his own, beloved Oistrakh ... |
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#7/2020 (USA)
4 October 2020 | Jed Distler | ClassicsToday.com | Big Boxes: A Major Violinist Rediscovered The eminent violinist and pedagogue Franco Gulli (1926-2001) may be familiar to collectors mainly through his stellar contributions to I Musici’s Vivaldi Edition on the Philips label. Yet his virtuosity, musicianship, and repertoire covered ample territory. One could argue that professionals and string connoisseurs were more cognizant of Gulli’s artistry than the public at large; in this sense Gulli stood as an Italian counterpart to the American Oscar Shumsky. Emilio Pessina, the mastermind behind Rhine Editions and a longtime Gulli admirer, aims to put things right with an 11-disc anthology that showcases the violinist in a wide range of solo, chamber, and orchestral works. [...] - Artistic Quality: 9 |
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#6/2020 (FR)
20 July 2020 | Maciej Chizynski | ResMusica | Ivry Gitlis, le chaman du violon Rhine Classics publie des enregistrements inédits d'Ivry Gitlis, réalisés les quinze premières années de sa carrière internationale de soliste, mettant à notre disposition des extraits de neuf récitals qu’il donna entre 1949 et 1963, en studio comme en public, accompagné de Maurice Perrin, Odette Pigault, André Collard, Antonio Beltrami et Florencia Raitzin. Né à Haïfa de parents originaires de Kamenets-Podolski, une ville à la double histoire ukrainienne et polonaise, Ivry Gitlis a aujourd’hui quatre-vingt-dix-huit ans et c’est l’une des personnalités du violon les plus charismatiques de son temps, qui, comme un chaman, possède le pouvoir d’ensorceler son public. Formé auprès de Bronisław Huberman, Jacques Thibaud, Georges Enesco, Carl Flesch et d’autres, Gitlis interprète la musique à travers le prisme de sa propre individualité. [...] Ce double disque de Rhine Classics nous offre non seulement deux heures et demie de belles musiques, mais également un livret agrémenté de photos rares. Signalons que le label Profil Medien a récemment publié un autre coffret dévolu à cet artiste, d’intérêt secondaire car dans une édition beaucoup moins soignée et dont le contenu doublonne partiellement avec cette parution. [MC] Rhine Classics is releasing previously unreleased recordings of Ivry Gitlis from the first fifteen years of his international solo career, offering excerpts from nine recitals he gave between 1949 and 1963, both in the studio and in public, accompanied by Maurice Perrin, Odette Pigault, André Collard, Antonio Beltrami, and Florencia Raitzin. Born in Haifa to parents from Kamenets-Podolski, a city with a dual Ukrainian and Polish history, Ivry Gitlis is now ninety-eight years old and one of the most charismatic violinists of his time, possessing, like a shaman, the power to enchant his audience. Trained by Bronisław Huberman, Jacques Thibaud, Georges Enescu, Carl Flesch, and others, Gitlis interprets music through the prism of his own unique voice. This double disc from Rhine Classics offers not only two and a half hours of beautiful music, but also a booklet featuring rare photos. It's worth noting that the Profil Medien label recently released another box set dedicated to this artist, of lesser interest as it's a much less polished edition and its content partially overlaps with this release. [MC] |
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#5/2020 (UK)
22 May 2020 | Stephen Greenbank | MusicWeb International | Aldo Ferraresi - The Gigli of the Violin [...] As is par for the course with Rhine Classics, presentation is top-drawer, from the well-constructed card box to the individual sleeves which hold the discs. The booklet runs to thirty-one pages, and offers the purchaser a detailed discography of the contents with track listings and dates of performances. What further impressed me were the seven pages of photographs offering a telling panorama of the artist’s life and career. Audio restorer Emilio Pessina has worked a miracle with his source material (radio masters, 78rpms, 33rpms and reel-to-reel tapes). No connoisseur of the art of violin playing would want to be without this remarkable collection. It will certainly take pride of place on my shelves. |
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#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.
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#3/2020 (UK)
19 February 2020 | Stephen Greenbank | MusicWeb International | Sergio Fiorentino, Rachmaninov complete solo piano works live [...] Fiorentino was a formidable Bach interpreter, but his leanings were mainly towards the romantic period of Chopin, Liszt, Schumann, Scriabin and Rachmaninov. His technique was outstanding and memory prodigious, but he shunned showmanship and instead strived to penetrate to the heart of the piece he was playing. His interpretations are notable for their freedom of expression, a trait common to pianists of the late 19th century. [...] The sound quality is consistently good throughout. The accompanying documentation ticks all the right boxes in supplying context surrounding the project, and the photographs are an added source of interest. Rachmaninov fans certainly will not be disappointed having a cycle of the complete solo works, captured with the spontaneity and freshness the live recital affords. |
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#2/2020 (UK)
17 January 2020 | Stephen Greenbank | MusicWeb International | Sergio Fiorentino, live in Taiwan [...] Serenity and poise characterize the opening of Beethoven’s Op. 110. I am particularly struck by the immaculate voicing of chords at the beginning. One feels doubt and despair in the dark and brooding Adagio, and the following fugal section is deftly articulated. This is a performance in which I sense the probing depth of Schnabel and spiritual dimension of Kempff. [...] Fiorentino performs Rachmaninov’s 1931 revision of his Piano Sonata No. 2 in B flat Major. This big-boned reading showcases the pianist’s supreme technical command. He achieves a wide dynamic range, from thunderous fortissimos to whispering pianissimos. In the second movement, there are some tender lyrical moments, radiantly expressed. The finale is intense and impassioned. [...] Three months later, on 22 August, Fiorentino sadly died. That gives added poignancy to this live concert. The beautiful audio restorations come courtesy of Emilio Pessina, with enthusiastic applause thankfully retained. |
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#1/2020 (USA)
Jan./Feb.2020 | Ned Kellenberger | American Record Guide | Ivry Gitlis - early years These discs include concert, studio, and radio performances. For anyone looking for an introduction to the famous violinist, they display the strengths and weaknesses that would attach to Gitlis for his entire career. At his best, he fascinates and amazes us with his eclectic and non-traditional interpretations. The narrowness and speed that he attains with his vibrato allow for remarkable intensity in the sound and serve as an homage to Ginette Neveu, who tragically died as Gitlis’s career was emerging. Christian Ferras also had such a vibrato and sound at his disposal, but it was wielded in less iconoclastic contexts. At his worst, Gitlis ignores basic imperatives about sound, playing with tightness here, scrapes there. He slaps the string percussively and tastelessly when there is no musical imperative. His spontaneity causes great unevenness: the piece sounds exactly as it should, and then it sounds exactly as it should not; it strikes gold, and then it strikes quicksand. Almost every performance is a rollercoaster, and this grows more and more tiresome and irksome the more one listens. The bad habits are especially noticeable in the German repertoire. Stay away from his Brahms and Bach. They activate tepid interest, but inconsistencies in sound ruin them. The sound is not round or rich, and it never oozes out the instrument, appearing by commandment and not by request. He almost always plays on the surface of the string and not with consistent weight, descending into a pile of cheap tricks that do not substitute for serious music-making. Both Brahms and Bach would appreciate his freedom of pacing but not the contempt that he sometimes shows toward tradition. Gitlis is interesting, but he is derailed by his deliberate ignorance of sound. The Chausson Poeme is a fabulous performance. It sounds sometimes as if Gitlis physically moves away from the microphone when the sound grows distant at certain climaxes, but one gets the impression that this setting of poetry is perfect for him. It does not demand the continuity, patience, or discipline of traditional forms employed by Beethoven and Brahms. I prefer Josef Hassid’s recording of the Achron for its emotional depth and closeness, but Gitlis’s rendition is effective as a dream even if it has a slight scent of superficiality. The Bartok appears twice, and the concert performance from 1963 on the second disc is better than the first one. I [1st mvmt] of Tartini shows Gitlis at his most charming and inventive. When he takes care of his sound, he is one of the greatest violinists of the 20th Century. |
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#43/2019 (CAN)
31 December 2019 | Mark Ainley | THE PIANO FILES | Favourite Releases of 2019 The Rhine Classics label has set a high standard for their releases of various historical performers, with productions featuring two pianists in particular capturing my attention this past year (originally planned for 2018, these sets in fact came out this past Spring). First off is an utterly mindblowing release of the complete Rachmaninoff solo piano music by Italian master pianist Sergio Fiorentino, an artist I came to know through the great German collector Ernst Lumpe, to whom the piano world owes a huge debt of gratitude for coaxing the master out of retirement and ensuring that his last decade of concerts was recorded. In this set, we find in absolutely stunning sound quality Fiorentino’s masterful traversals of Rachmaninoff’s solo works, the golden sheen of his sound and refinement of his nuancing as captivating as his passionate and intelligent interpretations. Truly a must-have for every Rachmaninoff fan and every Fiorentino fan – which should equate with every lover of great piano playing! (Their release of a 1998 Fiorentino recital in Taiwan is another must.) The label continues its tribute to the obscure and rather mysterious pianist Pietro Scarpini with a stellar release of 12 CDs of ‘Discovered Tapes’ featuring works ‘from Baroque to Contemporary,’ both solo and with orchestra. Their previous releases of this unique pianist were exemplary as well – the Busoni Concerto is a real favourite – and this set includes a stupendous Prokofiev Second Concerto with the great Mitropoulos in better sound than any previous release, as well as dozens of never-before-released recordings. His solo Prokofiev is equally captivating, as is his Bartok Third Concerto and so much else. His fusion of intellectual and robustness makes for captivating listening. That legendary New York Prokofiev Second Concerto – on Youtube, from a different source tape (not as good as what is available in this set) – gives a taste of the magical pianism in the Scarpini release.
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#42/2019 (FR)
À l'automne de sa vie, Sergio Fiorentino enregistre l'intégrale de l'œuvre pour piano seul de Sergueï Rachmaninov, caressant l'oreille par la netteté du toucher comme par la simplicité. Sergio Fiorentino_Sergueï Rachmaninov_Rhine ClassicsUn souffle divin se diffusait dans l'Auditorium Domenico Scarlatti RAI à Naples et animait Sergio Fiorentino lorsqu'il donnait au public, en septembre 1987, ces récitals entièrement dévolus à la musique de l'un de ses compositeurs préférés, transférés au disque à partir de bandes originales par Emilio Pessina. Fiorentino en connaît par cœur chaque note, paraît-il, ainsi que chaque pause, et il nous désarme par la sincérité et la suavité de ses interprétations, baignées de délicatesse et de couleurs lumineuses. Déjà dans la lecture du Prélude en ut dièse mineur op. 3 n° 2, on perçoit cette ampleur du geste quasi épique, de même que cette approche picturale qui rendent sa virtuosité complètement innocente face au ton grave du discours, mais qui nous font penser aussi à la majesté de la Russie tsariste. Les sons mis en valeur dans la main gauche, renvoient à la sonnerie des cloches des églises orthodoxes semblant pressentir l'épouvante qui se répandra sur leur pays et fera fuir Sergueï Rachmaninov à l'Ouest. Cette intégrale nous permet de tracer l'évolution de l'écriture du compositeur, influencée, dans sa jeunesse, par l'œuvre de Piotr Ilitch Tchaïkovski (Morceaux de fantaisie op. 3, élaborés en 1892), puis par l'impressionnisme français (Études-tableaux op. 33, façonnées en 1916) et enfin par le néo-classicisme (Variations sur un thème de Corelli op. 42, écrites en 1931). Le caractère descriptif des pages juvéniles s'accompagne avec le temps de plus de clarté et de liberté des textures. C'est ainsi que cette musique devient plus profonde et plus ample, et qu'elle peut sortir de l'élégant salon aristocratique. Dans ses partitions, Rachmaninov repousse par son imagination – d'ailleurs comme Frédéric Chopin, Claude Debussy et Alexandre Scriabine –, les limites du classique et, en quelque sorte, transgresse les possibilités offertes par le clavier. Le jeu de Sergio Fiorentino révèle un extraordinaire sens du panache, de la poésie et du raffinement des couleurs. Comme par magie, ses phrasés chantent avec pureté et douceur, en évoquant toute une palette d'émotions et une multitude d'ambiances. On est saisi aussi bien par les nuances piano, surprenantes de velouté, que par les forte profonds et pourtant jamais criards. Les compléments du programme de cet album sont des ajouts bienvenus car ils nous font réaliser à quel point Sergio Fiorentino est proche de cette musique. Mentionnons encore que le livret joint à ce coffret, renferme les photos de la transcription de la Vocalise op. 34 n° 14, que Fiorentino acheva en 1989. Un beau et généreux témoignage qui ne laisse pas de marbre et qui rappelle l'importance de l'œuvre pour piano de Sergueï Rachmaninov. [MC] In the autumn of his life, Sergio Fiorentino recorded the complete works for solo piano by Sergei Rachmaninoff, captivating the ear with the clarity of his touch and the simplicity of his playing. A divine breath filled the RAI Domenico Scarlatti Auditorium in Naples and inspired Sergio Fiorentino when, in September 1987, he gave audiences recitals entirely devoted to the music of one of his favorite composers, transferred to disc from original tapes by Emilio Pessina. Fiorentino apparently knew every note by heart, as well as every pause, and he disarmed us with the sincerity and sweetness of his interpretations, bathed in delicacy and luminous colors. Even in his reading of the Prelude in C-sharp minor, Op. In No. 2, we perceive the almost epic scope of the gesture, as well as the pictorial approach that renders his virtuosity completely innocent in the face of the solemn tone of the discourse, but which also evokes the majesty of Tsarist Russia. The sounds emphasized in the left hand recall the ringing of Orthodox church bells, seemingly foreshadowing the terror that would spread across their country and drive Sergei Rachmaninoff to flee west. This complete recording allows us to trace the evolution of the composer's writing, influenced in his youth by the work of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Fantasy Pieces, Op. 3, composed in 1892), then by French Impressionism (Études-Tableaux, Op. 33, created in 1916), and finally by Neoclassicism (Variations on a Theme by Corelli, Op. 42, written in 1931). The descriptive nature of the early works is accompanied, over time, by greater clarity and freedom of texture. In this way, the music becomes deeper and more expansive, transcending the elegant aristocratic drawing room. In his scores, Rachmaninoff, like Frédéric Chopin, Claude Debussy, and Alexander Scriabin, pushes back the boundaries of classical music with his imagination and, in a sense, transgresses the possibilities offered by the keyboard. Sergio Fiorentino's playing reveals an extraordinary sense of panache, poetry, and refined color. As if by magic, his phrasing sings with purity and sweetness, evoking a whole range of emotions and a multitude of moods. One is captivated by the surprisingly velvety piano nuances as well as by the deep, yet never shrill, fortes. The extras included in this album are welcome additions, as they reveal just how close Sergio Fiorentino is to this music. It's also worth mentioning that the booklet accompanying this set contains photographs of the transcription of the Vocalise Op. 34 No. 14, which Fiorentino completed in 1989. A beautiful and generous testament that leaves no one unmoved and reminds us of the importance of Sergei Rachmaninoff's piano works. [MC] |
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#41/2019 (UK)
The remarkably communicative violinist Franco Gulli could be as sublimely affecting in Bach (the two solo violin concertos) as he was consistently on the ball in Bartók’s Concerto No 2 (expressive, too, under Mario Rossi in 1959) and Prokofiev’s First (under Sergiu Celibidache in 1957). Gulli, born in 1926, started playing aged five and by the end of the 1930s was expanding his repertoire to embrace Busoni, whose Violin Concerto is represented in a remarkably assured performance from 1997, when Gulli was 70. Of equal artistic import is his 1973 performance of Schoeck’s colourful Violin Concerto. His 1957 account of Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole (four-movement version) has something of Bronisław Huberman’s gypsy-style temperament about it and yet his approach to the standard classics (Beethoven, Mozart and Haydn) is often sublimely beautiful, as is his 1964 account of Viotti’s Concerto No 22, possibly the finest I’ve ever heard. Also included are dazzling Paganini (Concertos Nos 1, 2 and 5) and works by Ned Rorem, Ghedini, Bloch (including a riveting account of the First Solo Suite) and others. This is an excellent, often revelatory collection [...] |
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#40/2019 (UK)
Sergio Fiorentino’s live coverage of Rachmaninov’s complete solo piano music on Rhine Classics presents a different sort of problem, though certainly not in terms of interpretation (most of it was recorded in 1987), which favours a manner of impassioned directness that often recalls the composer’s own playing. True, the piano tone can be brittle, and Fiorentino isn’t always technically infallible, but there’s real fire on display here, especially in the sonatas (No 2 is offered in the 1931 revision) and the two sets of preludes. [...] As to the rest, Fiorentino’s unguarded impetuosity is impressive and there are bonuses with orchestra in the guise of the First Piano Concerto and Paganini Rhapsody. I played these performances many times [...] |
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#39/2019 (UK)
[...] The recordings span a period of forty years from 1957 to 1997 and derive from a variety of sources. What we have are live broadcasts, original masters and studio recordings (LP 33 RPM). The project has been realized under the auspice of Giuliana and the Gulli family. The audio restoration has been expertly achieved by Emilio Pessina, with annotations supplied by Paolo Pessina. [...] The whole package smacks quality, from the sturdy box to the beautifully produced booklet. Track detail listings and a useful biographical portrait are desirable elements. Violin mavens will be equally drawn to the photos of Gulli with notable colleagues - Oistrakh, Kogan, Szigeti and Stern. Equally attractive are the individual photos of the violinist which adorn all eleven CD sleeves. Sound quality is variable throughout, but this comes as no surprise taking into account the provenance of the recordings. Overall you’ll be more than satisfied. The original master tapes offer warmth and intimacy. |
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#38/2019 (FR)
[...] But to take the measure of his art and his repertoire, it is necessary to immerse oneself in the live recordings, from the 1950s to the end of the 1990s, which Emilio Pessina has just assembled in the bounding box set by Rhine Classics, portrait finally faithful of the most belcantist among violinists. Franco Gulli - Rediscovered. Rhine Classics RH-005 (11CD), 1957-1999, CHOC◗
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Dec.2019/Jan.2020 | Jean-Charles Hoffelé | Classica No.218 (p. 91) | Franco Gulli - The refined bow of the Italian violinist sang like a nightingale and could hatch the spring. 
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#37/2019 (FR)
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December 2019 | Jean-Michel Molkhou | Diapason No.685 (p.119)
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#36/2019 (UK)
31 October 2019 | Stephen Greenbank | MusicWeb International | Pietro Scarpini Edition - from Baroque to Contemporary The disconcerting paucity of a commercial discography makes the enterprising Rhine Classics Scarpini Edition, collections of tapes and home recordings of his concerts and radio broadcasts, all the more precious. Two previous volumes focussed on Mozart works (2 CDs) and Busoni & Liszt (6 CDs). [...] This more substantial box titled 'from Baroque to Contemporary' offers a comprehensive retrospective of the artist’s work, embracing music that's familiar in addition to generous helpings of mouth-watering rarities. For me, the whole series has been a voyage of discovery [...] In terms of production quality and presentation, Rhine Classics is once again true to form with this superb collection. The audio restorations are remarkable and the whole Scarpini project has been a labour of love. The beautifully produced booklet photographs add further to the appeal of the package. The Pietro Scarpini Edition is a sterling achievement, which gets my wholehearted recommendation for resuscitating the memory of a long-forgotten artist. |
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#35/2019 (UK)
October 2019 | Rob Cowan | GRAMOPHONE (pg. 111) | REPLAY More from Scarpini Rhine Classics’ second collection devoted to the potently intellectual piano virtuoso Pietro Scarpini (‘the Rubinstein of contemporary music’) crosses with Documents’ Rosbaud set on the repertoire front with compelling performances of Schoenberg’s Ode to Napoleon (in English this time, with Alvar Lidell) and Pierrot lunaire (with a bittersweet Magda László). Also included is an expressive and alert account of the Piano Concerto under Antonio Pedrotti. Scarpini’s reading of Rachmaninov’s Corelli Variations is the nearest thing I can imagine to a recording by the composer himself (which, as it happens, we don’t have), his style similarly taut and impassioned, the level of concentration awesome. Brahms’s and Prokofiev’s second piano concertos (under Vittorio Gui and Dimitri Mitropoulos respectively) pay particular attention to intelligence, rhetoric and scale, both performances facing the music’s fearsome technical challenges head-on. Six Scriabin Sonatas as well as some Op.11 Preludes and Prometheus (under Piero Bellugi) demonstrate Scarpini’s ability to balance form and content, while his mastery of major Romantic works sheds light on Schubert’s D959 Sonata (more adventurous than austere) and Schumann’s Humoreske. Works by Bach as transcribed by Scarpini and others are also included. The recordings (1950–68) range from acceptable to excellent. |
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#34/2019 (UK) So far, I've savoured the delights on offer in the volumes devoted to showpieces and sonatas. This third volume in Rhine Classics’ Ruggiero Ricci Centenary Edition spotlights the violinist's concerto performances. These derive from live recitals and studio broadcasts aired between 1951 and 1978. [...] An added bonus is that the collection contains some rarities that the artist never set down commercially, such mouth-watering gems as the Paganini Violin Concerto No.6, and those by Ginastera, Jaques-Dalcroze and Carlos Heinrich Veerhoff. [...] The excellent 24bit 96kHz remasterings have been expertly realized by the capable hands of Emilio Pessina. The attractive liner embodies a detailed tracklisting with some nicely reproduced photos of Ricci. There's so much to treasure amongst this collection of immeasurable riches. |
27 September 2019 | Stephen Greenbank | MusicWeb International | |
#33/2019 (LU)
23 September 2019 | Uwe Krusch | Pizzicato.lu | Ruggiero Ricci Centenary Edition -3- sonatas Manchmal finden sich in Beiheften auch bemerkenswerte übernatürliche Erscheinungen. So wird das Werk Introduktion et Tarantella von Pablo de Sarasate mit dem Kompositionsjahr 1899 angegeben, die Lebensdaten des Komponisten aber kurzerhand ins Barock verfrachtet, nämlich 1690 bis 1768 statt 1844 bis 1908. Aber das eigentlich Spannende ist der Überblick über das Kammermusikspiel des Protagonisten Ruggiero Ricci. Dabei agieren auch würdige Begleiter am Piano, wie etwa Carlo Busotti, der Virtuose und Pädagoge war. Die weitgespannten Aufnahmen reichen vom Barock mit Veracini bis Ernest Bloch und decken damit beinahe alle Epochen ab. Auch die Aufnahmedaten von 1952 bis 1986 überspannen eine weite Strecke und von Studio bis Livemitschnitt. Der wenige Text im Beiheft deutet dann noch an, dass Ricci mit seinem Eintreten für die Musik von Paganini ebenso wie Uraufführungen von unter anderem Konzerten von Flury, Ginastera, von Einem und Carlos Veerhoff bis in seine musikalische Gegenwart aktiv war. Dazu passt auch sein Bonmot, ein Spezialist wäre jemand, der alle Musik außer der einen nicht spielen könne. Als Lehrer hatte er anfangs Louis Persinger, der ihn an Fritz Kreisler empfehlen wollte, doch Ricci wählte Georg Kulenkampff und damit eine deutschen Stil, der sein Spiel mit prägte. Hört man sich seine Aufnahmen an, so finden sich sowohl Interpretationen, die heute nicht mehr als adäquat angesehen werden. Dazu gehören die zweite Solosonate und die Duosonate Nr. 3 BWV 1016 von Bach, die mit, nennen wir es freiem rhythmischem Antritt und deutlichem Vibrato auffallen. Wobei auch diese Denkensart nicht völlig aus dem Ruder läuft, wie man bei anderen auch schon wahrnehmen musste. Im Unterschied dazu aber erfährt die erste Solosonate von Bach, übrigens hier Riccis früheste Bacheinspielung, eine durchaus hörenswerte Deutung. Die erste Prokofiev-Sonate erklingt mit einem mit delikatester technischer Finesse gespielten ersten Satz und einem folgenden robusten Allegro brusco, wobei die Sonate alles in allem recht zurückgenommen erscheint. Die erste Sonate von Bloch dagegen wird mit aller Heftigkeit ausgekostet. Die beiden Beethoven- und die Brahms-Sonaten zeigen Ricci als die Linien der klassischen Epoche ausdrucksvoll und geschliffen darbietenden Musiker mit immer feurigem Spiel. Zündend und nochmal die unnachahmliche technische Brillanz auch des Pianisten, hier Ferenc Rados, herausstellend erklingt auch die Saint-Saëns-Sonate und die virtuose, farbintensive und auch noch geistreiche Tzigane. Das Nachbearbeiten der Aufnahmen, mit Belassen von Applaus bei Konzertaufnahmen, hat störende Geräusche minimiert, ohne der Atmosphäre zu schaden. Natürlich werden neben Le streghe in der Bearbeitung von Kreisler auch zehn der Capricen von Paganini geboten, so dass der Einsatz von Ricci für die Werke von Paganini seinen Anteil hat. Diese umfangreiche Sammlung spricht sicherlich in erster Linie Geigeninteressierte an. Aber dank der guten Aufbereitung, der Vielseitigkeit der Auswahl und der durchaus mehr als beachtenswerten Interpretationen insgesamt verdient sie darüber hinaus viele Freunde. [UK] Sometimes, the accompanying booklets contain remarkable, almost supernatural, information. For example, Pablo de Sarasate's Introduction and Tarantella is listed as having been composed in 1899, but the composer's dates of birth and death are simply placed in the Baroque era, namely 1690 to 1768 instead of 1844 to 1908. But the truly fascinating aspect is the overview of the chamber music playing of the protagonist, Ruggiero Ricci. He is accompanied by worthy pianists, such as Carlo Busotti, a virtuoso and teacher. The wide-ranging recordings span from the Baroque period with Veracini to Ernest Bloch, thus covering almost all eras. The recording dates, from 1952 to 1986, also cover a broad spectrum, ranging from studio recordings to live performances. The brief text in the booklet hints that Ricci remained active in the music world well into his own time, championing the music of Paganini and premiering concertos by composers such as Flury, Ginastera, von Einem, and Carlos Veerhoff. This aligns with his bon mot that a specialist is someone who can't play any music except that one. Initially, he studied under Louis Persinger, who intended to recommend him to Fritz Kreisler. However, Ricci chose Georg Kulenkampff, thus embracing a German style that significantly influenced his playing. Listening to his recordings, one finds interpretations that are no longer considered appropriate today. These include Bach's Second Solo Sonata and Duo Sonata No. 3, BWV 1016, which are characterized by a, shall we say, free rhythmic attack and pronounced vibrato. However, this approach doesn't completely go off the rails, as has been observed in other musicians as well. In contrast, Bach's first solo sonata, incidentally Ricci's earliest Bach recording, receives a truly worthwhile interpretation. The first Prokofiev sonata is performed with a first movement played with the most delicate technical finesse, followed by a robust Allegro brusco, though the sonata as a whole appears rather restrained. Bloch's first sonata, on the other hand, is savored with full force. The two Beethoven sonatas and the Brahms sonatas showcase Ricci as a musician who expressively and flawlessly conveys the lines of the Classical era with consistently fiery playing. The Saint-Saëns sonata and the virtuosic, richly colored, and also witty Tzigane are performed with great verve, further highlighting the inimitable technical brilliance of the pianist, Ferenc Rados. The performance is equally captivating, further emphasizing the inimitable technical brilliance of the pianist, Ferenc Rados. Post-processing of the recordings, including the inclusion of applause in concert recordings, has minimized distracting noises without compromising the atmosphere. Naturally, in addition to Kreisler's arrangement of Le streghe, ten of Paganini's Caprices are also featured, highlighting Ricci's dedication to Paganini's works. This comprehensive collection will undoubtedly appeal primarily to violin enthusiasts. However, thanks to its excellent production, the diverse selection, and the overall remarkable interpretations, it deserves a wider audience. [UK] |
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#32/2019 (UK) This is the second of three sets I am in the process of reviewing dedicated to the great violinist Ruggiero Ricci, who died at the age of 94 at his home in Palm Springs, California in August 2012. Rhine Classics timed the releases for 2018, hence their billing as The Centenary Edition. [...] Beethoven is represented by Sonatas 1 and 10, and the pianists are Carlo Bussotti and Ferenc Rados respectively. Each is a partnership of equals, and listening to these glowing accounts makes one regret that the artist never set down a complete cycle. Also with Bussotti, there’s a compelling performance of Bloch's turbulent First Sonata, alternating ritualistic rhythmic intensity with passages of serene surrender. [...] It's a treat to have the Saint-Saëns’ First Sonata, a wonderful work, not programmed enough in my view. [...] This fascinating set offers a veritable feast, covering a wide variety of repertoire. I immediately warmed to the sound quality and balance of all the recordings. All told this is a worthy centenary tribute. |
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#31/2019 (UK) Ricci, intrepid and daring, in the sort of music he excelled in. | If you're a Ruggiero Ricci fan, then the news is good. The Taiwan-based Rhine Classics has released three box-sets of live recitals and broadcasts featuring the violinist, who died in 2012 aged ninety-four. There's a 6-CD box of concerto performances, and two 4-CD sets of sonatas and showpieces. It's the latter I will turn my attention to in this review. [...] It was in the showpiece genre that I first became acquainted with the artist’s playing. The recitals in this new release span forty years, and derive from live concerts and studio recordings set down between 1946 and 1986. Much of the material is appearing on CD for the first time. [...] The recordings have been excellently restored and remastered by Emilio Pessina. All told this is a priceless collection and a valuable addition to the artist's discography. |
29 July 2019 | Stephen Greenbank | MusicWeb International | |
#30/2019 (UK) A superbly realised cycle from a romantic lion of the keyboard. | Over the course of four recitals during September 1987, Sergio Fiorentino performed Rachmaninov’s complete solo piano works. Broadcast live by Italian RAI, Radio 3, the master tapes were retained by Fiorentino, from whose collection they have now been made available in splendid-sounding restorations. They occupy six CDs and are housed in Rhine’s customary sturdy boxes. [...] This excellent package brings together a superbly realised cycle from a romantic lion of the keyboard. |
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#29/2019 (UK) Previous volumes of live material in the Pietro Scarpini edition were reviewed very favourably here. This volume of 12 CDs also includes his only commercial solo piano recordings. They last little more than half an hour in total, an almost incredibly meagre representation given Scarpini’s outstanding gifts. A look at the programme, which runs alphabetically from Albéniz to Villa-Lobos, might suggest standard fare. But Scarpini (1911-97) excelled in major contemporary works too, so alongside staples such as the Brahms B-flat major Concerto and Schubert’s Sonata D959 we find names that resonate and excite, such as Casella, Malipiero, Peragallo, Petrassi, and Sessions. [...] The commercial recordings finish disc 12 and the set. They were of Stravinsky and Bartók and were made in Milan in 1950 for Durium and issued first on 78s and then reissued on both 10” and 12” LPs. The 10” missed off one of the pieces. He plays the Sonata and Piano-Rag-music of Stravinsky with crisp drive, and the Bartók Dances in Bulgarian Rhythm and Sonata with the embryonic command he was soon to show in the Concertos. It’s good to have these examples restored in this way. [...] Whether radio broadcasts, transcriptions, original masters or LPs, the 24bit 96 kHz restorations by Emilio Pessina are as fine as one could wish. This box and its predecessors build up an increasingly irrefutable case for Scarpini’s greatness as an interpreter of a wide swathe of the repertoire. |
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#28/2019 (UK) A splendid and loving boxset. | Franco Gulli (1926-2001) is the latest violinist to be celebrated by Rhine Classics in an 11-CD box that does much to expand his discography in what are, in the main, live performances. [...] Some of the highpoints whether for repertorial or performance reasons include the Beethoven Violin Concerto, Paganini No.5 and Viotti No.22 and all come from the master tapes and have never before appeared commercially. [...] I enjoyed Paolo Pessina’s booklet note very much. Still, the track details are full and clear, and there are some lovely, intimate and evocative photographs of Gulli, one in colour, sourced from the family archives that serve only to enhance this splendid and loving box. |
25 June 2019 | Jonathan Woolf | MusicWeb International | |
#27/2019 (UK) [...] Here we have a selection of broadcast performances made in Lausanne, Paris, Milan and Spoleto between 1949 and 1963. The earliest derive from acetates, with the later Italian inscriptions sourced from original masters. Gitlis is partnered by several pianists, all of whom are sympathetic. Audience presence has been conveyed by the retention of applause, adding positively to the spontaneity and emotion of the live event. There’s the occasional announcement, too. All are making their debut on CD and constitute a valuable addition to the violinist's discography. [...] Gitlis’ technical arsenal is impressive, harmonics, double stops....you name it, it's all there. Sit back and enjoy Moszkowski's Guitarre (arr. by Sarasate), the Wieniawski's Capriccio-Valse, with some seductive glissandi, and a gripping Polonaise No.1. There are two performances of Bartók’s Sonata for Solo Violin, an airing from Paris in December 1951 with an abridged Presto finale, which sounds boxy and a later live recording from Spoleto in July 1963 in much better sound. On both occasions, Gitlis rises to the challenge of this complex work admirably, keeping a tight rein throughout. His playing generates white-heat intensity. This is thrilling edge-of-the-seat stuff. [...] Emilio Pessina has done a sterling job with the audio restoration and remastering, and his potted biography of the artist is warmly welcomed. Included in the booklet is an array of black and white photographs. |
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#26/2019 (IT)
5 June 2019 | Luca Ciammarughi | Radio Classica, podcast TOP-TEN | Franco Gulli - ReDiscovered Top Ten è oggi dedicata a 10 ascolti da un fantastico box Rhine Classics che ci rivela l’arte del violinista Franco Gulli, fra i grandi del Novecento. Top Ten today is dedicated to 10 listenings from a fantastic Rhine Classics box that reveals the art of violinist Franco Gulli, one of the greatest figures of the 20th Century. [LC] |
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#25/2019 (FR) [...] Rachmaninov became his chosen composer over the years, the live recordings of the Rhapsody, the First (in the original version, its final is a madness) and Fourth Concertos, make cry the absence of the Second and Third. Fortunately RAI had asked him for the complete piano solo work, Fiorentino gave it in September 1987 during four nights of pure delirium happily captured. They have just been published, the last victory of a vengeful posterity on this existence which danced with panache over the precipices of oblivion. Rachmaninoff Complete Solo Piano Works Live, Rhine Classics RH-006 (6CD), CHOC◗ 'Live in Taiwan', Rhine Classics RH-009 (1CD), CHOC◗
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#24/2019 (ES) [...] Il recital prende il via con una prodigiosa versione del Preludio e Fuga in Re maggiore BWV 532 di Bach trascritto da Busoni ed elaborato da Fiorentino. [...] ci troviamo di fronte a chi, lungi dall’annoiarci con manie filologiche, usa il pianoforte come tale, e da musicista segnato profondamente dall’intera storia di questo strumento, trascende lo strumento proiettato com’è verso la ricerca di una perfezione formale e spirituale. [...] Possiamo dire che la 110 interpretata a Taipei rappresenta una straordinaria fusione di potenza emotiva e spiritualità. Il Maestro mostra con tocco magico, ricchezza timbrica sonorità sempre ben tornite con bassi mai ridondanti, un Beethoven che si eleva a altezze vertiginose. Un Beethoven attuale. [...] La versione della seconda Sonata di Rachmaninoff sorprende per la maggiore velocità rispetto a sue registrazioni precedenti e per un pathos poderoso. La seconda Sonata di Scriabin brilla di luce abbagliante. I quattro bis suggellano meravigliosamente un recital memorabile. Si deve anche all’eccellente lavoro di restauro e missaggio di Emilio Pessina il pregio di questo CD [...] [...] The recital begins with a prodigious version of Bach's Prelude and Fugue in D major, BWV 532, transcribed by Busoni and elaborated by Fiorentino. [...] we find ourselves before someone who, far from boring us with philological obsessions, uses the piano as such, and as a musician profoundly influenced by the entire history of this instrument, transcends the instrument, projected as it is toward the search for formal and spiritual perfection. [...] We can say that the 110 performed in Taipei represents an extraordinary fusion of emotional power and spirituality. The Maestro displays with a magical touch, rich timbre, always well-rounded sonorities with never redundant basses, a Beethoven who soars to dizzying heights. A Beethoven of the moment. [...] The version of Rachmaninoff's Second Sonata surprises with its greater speed compared to his previous recordings and with a powerful pathos. Scriabin's Second Sonata shines with dazzling light. The four encores wonderfully cap off a memorable recital. The merit of this CD is also due to Emilio Pessina's excellent restoration and mixing work. [GC] |
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#23/2019 (RO) [...] Paolo Pessina signs an all-encompassing presentation of Franco Gulli's artistic life and evolution, entitled The Renaissance of the Italian "Bel Canto" violin tradition, accompanied by numerous archive photos provided by the family and the Accademia Chigiana.[...] Citing him, you are a little surprised at the opinion that Gulli was not an intellectual, but just a musical intelligence. Remarkable and worth reading, to listen carefully to him, are his thoughts about Joseph Szigeti, whom he met in the 1960s, "after many years of concerts as a soloist and chamber musician, when we began a long study and a intimate musical relationship. [...] He has changed my whole attitude towards music, which is why I will always be grateful to him. " "He brought me into the modern era, not only as a repertoire, but also in terms of new musical standards. I consider Szigeti the most modern of our generation of violinists. It was a man who struggled to make music and not just music. Selfishness and what is sometimes called "cult of personality" have been strange to his musical interpretation. He is responsible for the inspiration and interpretation of a great number of new works. [...] I am convinced that under his guidance I have matured substantially." This collection made by Emilio Pessina now demonstrates his words and deserves to be heard. |
27 May 2019 | Victor Eskenasy | Suplimentul de Cultura No.646 | |
#22/2019 (FR) Sergio Fiorentino had, in a sense, given up his career, returning to his role as a professor at the Naples Conservatory, where he continued the teachings of his mentor Paolo Denza, offering his students nothing less than the secrets of Ferruccio Busoni. But he hadn't abandoned his art, giving scattered concerts in Italy, and occasionally in London. Gianni Cesarini dared to propose that he perform the complete solo piano works of Rachmaninov in four concerts—each a week apart during September 1987—and Fiorentino, after some deliberation, had the audacity to accept. This audacious recording has finally been released: pianistic virtuosity is combined with an incredible sense of color, a nobility of style, and an elegance that excludes all pathos. Could this be the finest complete recording ever made of Rachmaninov's piano legacy? The Etudes-Tableaux showcase Fiorentino's understated virtuosity; everything sings from that immense keyboard that elevates the polyphonies and soars the rhythms. Even the Preludes transcend their miniature form to become veritable universes, and the two Sonatas, played entirely with ten fingers, sound like piano symphonies. Yet, it is to the two books of Variations, the fantasy cycles, and the scattered pieces that I constantly return, so much do the poetry of the touch, the elegance of the phrasing, and the sheer evocative power of this high-school art transfigure them. The recording perfectly captures the magnificent wooden Steinway of the RAI Domenico Scarlatti Auditorium in Naples. Rhine Classics adds two substantial bonus tracks. The recording of the original version of the First Concerto, which documents the artistry of the young Fiorentino (it was recorded on September 27, 1958), is remarkable: one must hear how he illuminates the short intermezzo at the end of the Andante, sotto voce, and with what brilliance he carries the Allegro vivace to a fever pitch. Another marvel is the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, recorded this time in the very year he left the Conservatory and returned to the stage, a work of exhilarating fantasy. Concerts resumed in 1991, taking the octogenarian pianist to Taiwan for what was to be one of his final appearances. The highlight of this concert, with its clear yet shadowy sound, is Opus 110, poised between prayer and exaltation, a truly unforgettable spiritual elevation from the moment one hears it. Scriabin's Second Sonata and Rachmaninoff's (still in its second version) further illustrate his Russian leanings, while he makes his keyboard roar just as powerfully in Busoni's spectacular transcription of Bach's Prelude and Fugue in D major, BWV 532, to which he adds his own embellishments. The encores are prodigious: a Moszkowski and a Mendelssohn from another era, and two Waltzes of breathtaking elegance, reminding us of the consummate artistry with which he always played his Chopin. A meticulously produced edition, splendid sound, abundant illustrations, remarkable critical apparatus—a magnificent work by a passionate publisher. I hope that other recordings illustrating the art of this piano giant, whom we never cease to rediscover, will follow. |
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#21/2019 (CA) What a glorious set you have produced - to have so many hours of incredible pianism so readily available is a dream come true! Bravo for your amazing work! |
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#20/2019 (CA) An absolutely stupendous production - glorious playing in magnificent sound... such a treasure! |
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#19/2019 (IT) In onda ora con questa pubblicazione rivelatoria [...] una produzione che meriterebbe tutti i premi possibili. Now on air with this revelatory release [...] a production that deserves all the possible prizes. [LC] |
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#18/2019 (UK) [...] The first broadcast comes from Lausanne in September 1949. He plays Hindemith’s Sonata No.3, Szymanowski’s La Fontaine D'Aréthuse and Bloch’s Nigun in typically febrile fashion, his tight, fast, vibrato vesting everything with a real sense of intensity and urgency. That Hindemith second movement therefore is quicksilver and full of youthful life – Gitlis was, after all, only 27 at the time – and the Szymanowski is fervid. [...] There are items from two 1953 recitals. Chausson’s Poème is a valuable addition in this communicative piano-accompanied reading with Odette Pigault and there’s a warm-blooded Achron Hebrew Melody very different from Josef Hassid’s famously passionate 78. [...] Gitlis is still happily with us at the time of writing, one of the last remaining real examples of individualism of both person and performing style. |
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#17/2019 (FR) Almost impossible to comprehend the achievement here. Over a number of days in 1988 Sergio Fiorentino sat down in front of the RAI microphones to record "live" before a public the complete solo piano music of Sergei Rachmaninoff. The master tapes have been found, beautifully remastered by Emilio Pessina and issued in a box set from Rhine Classics. The words "slack-jawed" or "bouche bée" pretty much sum up the feeling I have in. listening to these recordings. Fiorentino has everything it takes to be a great interpreter of Rachmaninoff: awesome technique, unvarying implacable pulse and thrust, beautiful tone, and a complete absence of sentimentality. Moreover such nobility. Fiorentino treats this like great music. In his hands it is. It's all here, folks, the early pieces, the complete preludes and études, the variations, and both sonatas. Critics will pick and gnaw at this and that detail, missing as they usually do the wood for the trees. That's what they consider their job! I will not play that senseless game. I will also not indulge in comparisons. I know them all but this one is truly for the ages. Imcomparable. |
8 May 2019 | Tom Deacon -former Universal Music Group Producer- (facebook page) | Sergio Fiorentino plays Rachmaninoff |
#16/2019 (USA) A sweeping 11 CD retrospective! [...] Having been impressed by Nathan Milstein as a youth, Gulli follows that master’s penchant for driving speed combined with a natural bel canto, aided in these by his 1716 Stradivari formerly owned by Franz von Vecsey. Gulli, incidentally, provides his own cadenzas to many concertos he plays, particularly appropriate in his Mozart “Turkish” Concerto [...] . The sense of stylistic comfort and ease of transition have been with us throughout some 11 hours of playing time on these timeless discs. Some musical assignments become a privilege to have reviewed, and this Gulli set from Rhine Classics is among them. That I will present goodly portions on “The Music Treasury” becomes a pre-determined fact. |
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#15/2019 (FR) Trois mois avant son décès, Sergio Fiorentino donna en Taïwan un récital dont la gravure a (enfin) été éditée en disque. C’est un document précieux, d’autant plus qu’il existe peu d’enregistrements studio de cet artiste. [...] L’interprétation de la Sonate pour piano n° 2 en sol dièse mineur op. 19 d’Alexandre Scriabine s’imprègne, à son tour, de poésie et de lumière, mais également d’une expressivité intense qui assure à cette lecture, malgré un certain resserrement des phrasés dans le Presto, une place près du sommet de la discographie. [...] Three months before his death, Sergio Fiorentino gave a recital in Taiwan, the recording of which has (finally) been released on disc. It is a precious document, especially since there are few studio recordings of this artist. [...] The interpretation of Alexander Scriabin's Piano Sonata No. 2 in G-sharp minor, Op. 19, is imbued, in turn, with poetry and light, but also with an intense expressiveness that secures this performance, despite a certain tightening of the phrasing in the Presto, a place near the top of the discography. [...] [MC] |
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#14/2019 (IT) Stasera “Il pianista” è dedicato a un’imperdibile pubblicazione dedicata a Sergio Fiorentino: un recital che l’immenso pianista napoletano tenne a Taipei nel maggio 1998. Ritorna alla luce grazie all’etichetta Rhine Classics, impegnata nella “Sergio Fiorentino Edition”. Tonight "The Pianist" is dedicated to an unmissable publication dedicated to Sergio Fiorentino: a recital that the immense Neapolitan pianist held in Taipei in May 1998. Returns to light thanks to the label Rhine Classics, engaged in the "Sergio Fiorentino Edition". [LC] |
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#13/2019 (IT)
4☆☆☆☆ | April 2019 | Piero Rattalino | MUSICA magazine No.305 (pg.58-63) | Scarpini e il mito dell'oggettività PIANO: Rhine Classics brings to light a pianist who is now forgotten, but who devoted much of his life to the repertoire of his time. - Scarpini and the myth of objectivity. [PR]
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#12/2019 (UK) Having recently reviewed a 2-CD set of Pietro Scarpini playing Mozart on the Rhine Classics' label, I'm pleased to have the opportunity to do the same for this more ambitious 6-CD set of the pianist's Busoni and Liszt recordings. Once again the recordings derive from 'discovered tapes' and constitute another fascinating volume in their Pietro Scarpini Edition. [...] There are a number of versions of the Fantasia Contrappuntistica, Scarpini opts for the two-piano version and takes both parts, overdubbing them himself in his home studio in 1974. They sound excellent. [...] Scarpini's late Liszt performances offer a wealth of insights. He instils a sense of foreboding in Nuages gris, Unstern! and La lugubre gondola II, whilst En rêve: Nocturne, in his hands, is not only evocative and dream-like but has a bittersweet quality. [...] As an added bonus we have Scarpini's first known recording from 1938, a transcription by Busoni of Liszt’s “Grandes études de Paganini”, No.2 . It's a perfect showcase for the pianist’s scintillating virtuosity. The source is a private 78rpm disc, which has been carefully restored. This set will appeal especially to aficionado’s of great pianism and will be of added value in enhancing Scarpini’s scant discography. The CDs are complemented with a beautifully illustrated booklet. Rhine Classics have carefully restored and remastered these valuable aural documents in 24bit 96KHz sound. This set will appeal especially to aficionado’s of great pianism and will be of added value in enhancing Scarpini’s scant discography. |
1 April 2019 | Stephen Greenbank | MusicWeb International | |
#11/2019 (UK) Rob Cowan welcomes a historic label that has unearted some remarkable treasures. [...] Aldo Ferraresi has a pleasingly seductive sound, its expressive manner an approximate cross between Merckel and Enescu [...] revelatory in the violin concertos by Elgar and Walton. [...] Any conoisseur of the instrument simply has to hear Aldo Ferraresi, and I cannot recommend this set highly enough. | Wanda Luzzato playing most reminded me, in its intellectual rigour and seductive warmth, of Adolf Busch [...] persuasive playing in a unique context. Magical is the word. | Then there is Alfonso Mosesti, the gifted Concertmaster of RAI orchestras, [...] a fine soloist too, another violinist that reminds me of Busch. | Piano-wise Rhine Classics has given us a stimulating six-CD set of Pietro Scarpini playing Busoni and Liszt [...] all played with intelligence and the odd tell-tale flashback to old-world performing gestures. | A double-pack of Scarpini playing Mozart [...] in its finely crafted classicism reminded me of Robert Casadesus. | And lastly Sergio Fiorentino 'Live in Taiwan 1998', grandeur personified [...] raises a storm with the Second Sonatas of Scriabin and Rachmaninov. | So here's to the next Rhine Classics releases, including more Fiorentino and a big box of recordings by the violinist Franco Gulli. I'll be filling you in as soon as they arrive.
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#10/2019 (IT) [...] un grande musicista, capace di evocare atmosfere timbriche antiche e lontane, in un Preludio bachiano dal suono sontuoso e solenne come si faceva ai primi del Novecento, nel fraseggio incantevole con cui viene tratteggiato il tema dell’Arioso dolente nell’Adagio ma non troppo dell’Op.110, oppure nel molle ondeggiare del secondo movimento della Sonata Op.36 di Rachmaninov. [...] [...] a great musician, capable of evoking ancient and distant timbral atmospheres, in a Bach Prelude with a sumptuous and solemn sound as was done in the early twentieth century, in the enchanting phrasing with which the theme of the Arioso dolente is outlined in the Adagio ma non troppo of Op. 110, or in the soft undulation of the second movement of Rachmaninov's Sonata Op. 36. [...] [LS] |
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#9/2019 (UK) Despite his distinguished pianistic achievements, Pietro Scarpini's star never shone as brightly as those of others. He could be accused of hiding his light under a bushel. Why? He shunned commercial recordings but, thankfully, meticulously collected tapes and home recordings of his concerts and radio broadcasts. It’s these that Rhine Classics have carefully restored and remastered in 24bit 96KHz sound. I have to say that, for their age and provenance, the results are impressive. This collection of Mozart performances is just one of several sets which make up the label's Pietro Scarpini Edition. [...] The beautifully produced booklet presents an array of fascinating photos of the pianist. |
19 March 2019 | Stephen Greenbank | MusicWeb International | |
#8/2019 (UK) [...] his playing is equal to the music’s demands, as he draws out the most powerful sonorities from his Steinway, the Fuga emerging in an arc of overpowering splendour. [...] Irrespective of the essentially standard nature of this recital the performances are untouched by routine. Beethoven’s Op.110 sonata is powerfully declaimed, the chording strong, the expressive temperature cumulatively moving after the Fuga has done its work. [...] this recital preserves Fiorentino’s wonderful tone across its range. With fine audio restoration from Emilio Pessina and a good booklet note this release also makes an immediate appeal to the senses. The vitality and intensity of the performances exceed those to be heard in the Piano Classics series dedicated to the pianist; superb though these are, they remain, largely, radio broadcasts. Here Fiorentino is a tiger on the loose. |
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#7/2019 (USA) This restored recital from Taiwan’s Novel Hall captures the Fiorentino at the peak of his form in splendid sound. |
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#6/2019 (UK)
[...] this is a good example of Ricci’s sonata art, and perhaps even better is his Prokofiev [No.1], which he never did for a record label. There’s real resinous brusco drive here and the performance is also lyrically aware, and never devitalised by complacent phrasing. [...] The peach here is the Saint-Saëns Sonata No.1 because he never otherwise recorded it. It’s not at all Gallic, so forget the shades of Thibaud or Merckel and enjoy instead a combustible and lively reading. Ravel’s Tzigane is powerfully projected. [...] Heard in 24bit 96kHz mastering, this whole series is dedicated to and realized under the auspices of Ricci’s wife Julia and the tapes have been excellently restored by Emilio Pessina. Full track listings can be found in the most attractively produced booklet, which has a fine selection of images of Ricci. |
8 February 2019 | Jonathan Woolf | MusicWeb International | |
#5/2019 (UK)
Rhine Classics is back in business with a tranche of new releases of which the majority concentrate on the explosive art of Ruggiero Ricci. There are two 4-CD sets devoted to showpieces and to sonatas and a 6-CD set to concertos. [...] The final recital comes from November 1986, in the Teatro Comunale, Monfalcone. It was recorded by Emilio Pessina in situ on tape with Ricci’s permission. This consists of one of Ricci’s great set-pieces, a complete recital of Paganini’s Caprices in an ordering of his devising. [...] This lovingly compiled release has been very well engineered, from disparate source material, and features an attractive, photograph-laden booklet. The 24bit 96 kHz remastering sounds excellent. This is a boon for Ricci collectors. |
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#4/2019 (UK) Sporting six CDs this is the largest of the three sets celebrating the centenary of the birth of Ruggiero Ricci. The recordings preserve tuning up and applause and have been remastered in 24bit 96kHz to provide over seven hours of listening charting the violinist between the years 1951 and 1978. Most of the concerto performances are captured live whilst some others are heard in studio readings. Two concertos are heard in duplicate performances; the Brahms and Paganini’s D major, No.1.[...] All three boxes have attractive booklets with full recording details and attractively reproduced photographs. Emilio Pessina’s mastering is first class once again. These three sets, available separately, are a worthy and significant addition to Ricci’s discography. |
31 January 2019 | Jonathan Woolf | MusicWeb International | |
#3/2019 (IT) Ora in onda. Grazie al produttore Emilio Pessina per il restauro e l’editing di questi preziosi documenti! Al “Pianista” oggi ci dedichiamo a un grande interprete storico, Pietro Scarpini, finalmente pienamente valorizzato grazie alla riscoperta e il restauro di sue interpretazioni da parte dell’etichetta Rhine Classics. Now on air. Thanks to the producer Emilio Pessina for the restoration and editing of these precious documents! At "The Pianist" today we dedicate ourselves to a great historical interpreter, Pietro Scarpini, finally fully appreciated thanks to the rediscovery and restoration of his interpretations by the label Rhine Classics. [LC] |
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#2/2019 (RO) 14 January 2019 | Victor Eskenasy | Suplimentul de Cultura No.629 | Revelations at the beginning of the year - Pietro Scarpini Edition: (Re) Discoveries In a volume of memoirs that was also translated in Romania, but in an edition with a limited circulation, Romanian-Italian composer Roman Vlad evokes the figure of a great and original italian pianist, known mostly by professionals and music lovers from the piano world. He is Pietro Scarpini (Rome, 1911 - Florence, 1997). If I talk about him, it is because of the appearance at the end of last year of an excellent edition of his recordings, two sets of eight (6+2) CDs under the aegis of Rhine Classics (RH-007 and RH-014), remastered and presented by a good friend of ours, Emilio Pessina. |
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#1/2019 (CAN) 1 January 2019 | Mark Ainley | THE PIANO FILES | Favourite releases of 2018 | Pietro Scarpini Edition: Busoni & Liszt - Mozart A wonderful end-of-year release from Rhine Classics includes two fantastic sets devoted to the Italian pianist Pietro Scarpini. A wonderful pianist not well represented on records, Scarpini was an elusive figure who played with marvellous tonal colours and disarming directness. One six-disc set focuses on works by Busoni & Liszt (including a stupendous Busoni Piano Concerto in glorious sound) while another two-disc set features his Mozart: glowing, sumptuous, forthright playing of two piano concertos and some solo works. |
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#5/2018 (FR) Recently, I expressed my hope for a recording of concert tapes by Pietro Scarpini, a piano genius too rarely featured on disc and ignored by major labels. As luck would have it, my wish has quickly been granted. Rhine Classics has compiled his entire Busoni legacy in a first album, adding to the Concerto with Kubelik, which I recently celebrated here, the release of the Sonatinas (including the irresistible one on Carmen), three Elegies, the Indian Journal, and two orchestral works: the rare Romanza e Scherzoso (conducted by Abbado!) and the ever-popular Indian Fantasy. Scarpini's transcendent virtuosity revives that of Busoni, but his brilliant intellect renders these pieces utterly modern. It will come as no surprise that this commitment to modernity extends to the final two discs of this first set, dedicated to rare works by Liszt! Malédiction, conducted once again by Abbado, has never been performed with such intensity. Nuages gris and a few rare Hungarian Folk Songs, excerpts from L’Arbre de Noël, and a host of late, somber pieces clearly demonstrate Liszt’s quest for modernity. An irresistible, essential performance. But this striking collection shouldn’t distract you from the slim Mozart box set that accompanies it: just two discs, but breathtaking in its physical commitment, its breadth of vision, its pianistic perfection, its stylistic rigor, and simply its sheer personality. The two concertos (the 25th with Rodzinski, invaluable, among other things, because Scarpini plays Busoni’s cadenza for the Allegro maestoso, and the 27th, divinely arranged by Vittorio Gui) are marvels of both fluidity and eloquence, with breathtaking phrasing and impeccable articulation. But the recording of the Sonatas, captured by excellent microphones at his home piano in 1974 and 1975, is even more surprising: the concentration of the Sonata K. 457, the imagination he brings to its dramatization, blew me away, as did the masterful interpretation of the Sonata K. 332, a work of classicism whose veneer is always on the verge of cracking. From another session, the Rondo K. 485 flows by, playful and engaging, while the Adagio in B minor suspends time. At the very end, two versions of the Orgelstück K. 616, a delightful and almost unsettling curiosity—just listen. The label has announced a third volume for January: 12 CDs. I'm certain 2019 is off to a great start. |
#4/2018 (USA)  5☆☆☆☆☆ | 26 December 2018 | Gary Lemco | Audiophile Audition | Sergio Fiorentino - live in Taiwan 1998Taken from the private collection of Italian master-pianist Sergio Fiorentino, this restored recital from Taiwan’s Novel Hall captures the artist at the peak of his form in splendid sound, courtesy of Emilio Pessina. The resonance of Fiorentino’s Steinway proves stunning, especially profound in the Scriabin Sonata, whose liquid appeal to the senses mesmerizes and dazzles in its erotic figurations. But to single out any of the individual works provides an immediate disproportion to the holistic nature of the recital, whose emotional canvas vibrates on an equal plane with the intellectual, aesthetic and dramatic context that unfolds only months before Fiorentino’s untimely death. [...] After the torrent concludes, we know definitely why Michelangeli referred to Fiorentino as “the only other pianist.” |
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#3/2018 (USA) This evening’s program comes exclusively through the courtesy of the Rhine Classics label. |
#02/2018 (US)
  May/June 2018 | Jerry Dubin | FANFARE Magazine - Issue 41:5 | Jascha Heifetz: The Legendary Los Angeles Concerts
[...] Heifetz plays magnificently; I’ll give him that. In fact, on a purely technical level, though his interpretation hasn’t changed to any noticeable degree, I think he plays better in this 1954 performance than he does just a year later in his best-known recording of the work with Charles Munch and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Munch, however, seems to have let Heifetz take the lead, so that the Boston reading sounds more of a meeting of the minds between soloist and conductor than this one does with Mehta. [...]
In both this Los Angeles recording with Mehta and the Boston recording a year later with Munch, Heifetz uses the Auer-Heifetz cadenzas, but thanks to Mehta as a mediating influence where possible, the LA performance feels marginally slower and more relaxed than the Boston performance. Indeed, the more I listen to this LA reading of the piece, the more persuaded I am that it’s Heifetz’s best and most beautiful version of the Beethoven Concerto. [...]
Here’s where I’d be expected to say that the collection at hand is mainly for diehard Heifetz fans. With the exception of the Beethoven, however, I’m not sure I can recommend this even to the most dedicated Heifetz admirers, since nothing in these performances improves upon or differs in any significant way from other recordings of these works the violinist made in generally better sounding transfers and more readily available releases. If something could be done with the Beethoven —like suppressing the annoying cough and trimming the four minutes of applause down to four or five seconds— it might well be one of my top choices for a performance of the concerto. The LA orchestra sounds really great, and Mehta brings out some interesting patterns in the inner voices that I don’t believe I’ve ever heard before. [...]
The well-documented booklet contains a number of good quality black-and-white photos, along with a well-written, informative essay on Heifetz’s life and career.
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7 March 2018 | THE VIOLIN CHANNEL | GIVEAWAY Win 1 of 5
To help celebrate the international release, The Violin Channel is this week giving away 5 copies of ‘Jascha Heifetz: The Legendary Los Angeles Concerts’ double CD sets – courtesy of Rhine Classics.
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#21/2017 (FR) Si Aldo Ferraresi est de nos jours méconnu, il fut jadis considéré comme l’un des grands musiciens de son époque. Aujourd’hui, son héritage discographique nous est offert par un label nouvellement créé, Rhine Classics, dans le cadre de la série "L’Art du violon". |
Les Clefs d'or 2017 | 11 December 2017 | Maciej Chizynski | ResMusica | |
#20/2017 (UK) The metaphor about the two buses definitely applies here. Until this year I'd never heard of the violinist Wanda Luzzato, probably because she never made any commercial recordings. Then, in the space of two months, two sets of live airings come along, a double CD set and this more substantial 8 CD box from Rhine Classics. For violin aficionados like myself, this is a rare treat. Full Review» 2nd nomination | Jonathan Woolf (page 27) «Rhine Classics is a label devoted to rare and historic material and has made an excellent start to what looks like being a splendid stable of recordings. Wanda Luzzato is the subject of an 8-CD box made all the more valuable because the pupil of the great pedagogue Hubay never made a single studio recording. This lovingly presented box provides irrefutable of her status as one of Italy’s greatest string players. Full Review |
ROTY-2017 | December 2017 | MusicWeb International | | #19/2017 (IT)
Dal felice incontro d'intenti tra Gianluca La Villa, uno dei massimi competenti italiani di storia del violino e dei violinisti e l'etichetta Rhine Classics ed Emilio Pessina, autentico artista del remastering di preziosi documenti sonori altrimenti compromessi dalle ingiurie del tempo, è stato di recente presentato il primo di una serie di cofanetti [...] Questa meritoria raccolta nel suo numero d'esordio riunisce in 18CD tutte le incisioni esistenti del grande virtuoso italiano Aldo Ferraresi [...] capace di porsi su di una linea nient'affatto subalterna rispetto agli archetipi interpretativi definiti da colossi come Heifetz ed Oistrakh. From the happy meeting of intent between Gianluca La Villa, one of the greatest Italian experts on the history of the violin and violinists and the Rhine Classics label and Emilio Pessina, an authentic artist in the remastering of precious sound documents otherwise compromised by the ravages of time, the first of a series of box sets was recently presented [...] This meritorious collection in its debut issue brings together in 18 CDs all the existing recordings of the great Italian virtuoso Aldo Ferraresi [...] capable of placing himself on a line that is not at all subordinate to the interpretative archetypes defined by giants such as Heifetz and Oistrakh. [RP] |
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#18/2017 (IT) Questo splendido cofanetto si apre con una delle migliori interpretazioni di Wanda Luzzato, il Concerto per violino di Ciaikovski, suonato con l'Orchestra della RAI di Milano diretta da Efrem Kurtz il 25 marzo 1960. [...] Violinista dal suono possente, con le rotondità del suo splendido Guadagnini. [...] Tra tutte queste splendide incisioni svettano i "3 Canti" di Pizzetti, ma soprattutto "La Fontaine di Arethuse" (di Szymanowski) che dà modo alla violinista di far emergere il prorompente violinismo trascendentale, che si coniuga ad una sensibilissima musicalità [...] This splendid box set opens with one of Wanda Luzzato's finest performances, Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto, performed with the RAI Orchestra of Milan conducted by Efrem Kurtz on March 25, 1960. [...] A violinist with a powerful sound, with the roundness of her splendid Guadagnini. [...] Among all these splendid recordings, Pizzetti's "3 Canti" stand out, but above all "La Fontaine di Arethuse" (by Szymanowski), which allows the violinist to bring out her exuberant, transcendental violinism, combined with a highly sensitive musicality [...] [CB] |
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#17/2017 (FR) [...] Il suffit d'entendre la première phrase de la Sonate en ré mineur de Schumann pour réaliser quelle intense poésie habitait son jeu. Le sens donné aux phrasés force l'admiration, tant par la richesse de l'imagination que par cette art de faire "parler" les notes ... un peu alla Menuhin. [...] L'imposant coffret de Rhine Classics a l'avantage d'un généreux livret (pourvu d'une impressionante collection de photographies) et d'un panorama plus vaste sur l'art de cette violoniste italienne mêlant concertos, sonates et miniatures. En publiant des documents provenant de la propre collection de l'artiste, incluant des répétitions, des bandes radio et des enregistrements live, forcément disparates mais tous méticulesement restaurés, il représente une somme de travail qui, en ces temps de projets faciles ou bâclés, mérite le respect. [...] [...] One only needs to hear the first phrase of Schumann's Sonata in D minor to realize the intense poetry that permeated her playing. The meaning she gives to the phrasing commands admiration, both for the richness of her imagination and for her art of making the notes "speak"... somewhat reminiscent of Menuhin. [...] The impressive Rhine Classics box set has the advantage of a generous booklet (featuring an impressive collection of photographs) and a broader overview of the art of this Italian violinist, encompassing concertos, sonatas, and miniatures. By publishing materials from the artist's own collection, including rehearsals, radio tapes, and live recordings—necessarily disparate but all meticulously restored—it represents a significant body of work that, in these times of facile or sloppy projects, deserves respect. [...] [JMM] |
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#16/2017 (FR) March 25, 1960: Efrem Kurtz electrified the RAI National Symphony Orchestra of Milan in the Great Hall of the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory with one of the most sumptuous Tchaikovsky Violin Concertos I have ever heard. Who else plays it with such boundless bowing, such character, such poise, such a burnished tone? Wanda Luzzato, who shared the 4th Prize at the Vienna Competition in 1932 with Ginette Neveu. Jenő Hubay, upon hearing her, was mesmerized by her authority and the fullness of her sound and took her to Budapest. He instilled in her the entire violin culture of Central Europe, of which he was the last representative. In Budapest, the young woman was already playing her magnificent Guadagnini violin, which she would never part with, and which lends such a distinctive character to all her interpretations. That such a great violinist, a child prodigy in her time, should have been completely ignored by recording studios remains a mystery, given the significant recording legacies of Ginette Neveu, Erica Morini, Gioconda de Vito, and Johanna Martzy. Rhine Classics has compiled all the recordings she made for RAI. Her collaboration with Antonio Beltrami throughout the 1960s is studded with gems, some of which were repeated, such as this performance of Schumann's Second Sonata, whose deeply felt phrasing I cannot forget. Together, they deliver a captivating interpretation of Brahms's Second Sonata, and one must hear the ardent lyricism they bring to the Richard Strauss Sonata; a more appassioned performance would be impossible. The entire album is a treasure trove, from the precious discs that reproduce his working sessions to the final recordings in January 1979. Emilio Pessina, who has created a true work of art with this first volume – the iconography is as abundant as the fascinating liner notes – owes us a second volume, because while Meloclassic has already published archives from Süddeutscher Rundfunk, other radio stations hold wonders: Glazunov's Concerto, Beethoven's 7th Sonata in Paris with André Collard, and the Basel archives (Grieg's Third Sonata) are waiting to be revealed. |
| #15/2017 (FR)August 2017 | ...a letter from our customer... « Dear all, regarding the future releases I would like that the recordings of the concerts given by Jascha Heifetz in the framework of the Bell Telephone Hour will be restored in high definitition, in particular the virtuosity pieces. Besides Mr Heifetz has interpreted in his youth some famous masterpieces but I do not know if these interpretations have been recorded. For example "The Palpiti", "Nel cor più non mi sento" of Paganini or the "Variations on an original theme" of Wieniawski. I would like if such records exist and are available they will be restored by Mr. Pessina. Thanks. Best regards. » J.-J. Leandri |
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#14/2017 (USA) Jascha Heifetz performances previously unreleased emerge on a new, important label in excellent sound. The live broadcasts offered here through the efforts of Producer and Audio Restoration Engineer Emilio Pessina derive from radio master and unreleased reel-to-reel audio tapes from both the Hollywood Bowl (1 September 1963) and the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion (6 December 1964). Pessina has maintained the audience response, and so the sheer level of excitement remains undeniable, especially after the Brahms Double Concerto with Piatigorsky and Bernstein. This Rhine Classics label promises to rank high in the pantheon of historic reissues. |
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#13/2017 (UK) Despite the rarity of the repertoire, Rhine Classics has promoted its latest release under the name of the soloist in both works, Alfonso Mosesti, in its ‘The Golden Age of Concertmasters’ marque. [...] This brace of Italian concertos preserves much that is lyric and generous-minded. If you have an affinity with the composers cited in the review and are not allergic to historic recordings, then you will enjoy exploring these barely-heard scores, and find much pleasure in doing so. [...] The restoration by Emilio Pessina is excellent. |
July 2017 | Jonathan Woolf | MusicWeb International | |
#12/2017 (FR) La Révélation de témoignages inédits de Jascha Heifetz est toujours un événement. Les deux concertos ont été captés (live) à une époque où le violoniste, qui s'était installé en Californie, régnait encore quasiment sans partage sur le monde du violon américain. [...] Heifetz se livre à une démonstration d'anthologie, apparaissant là au sommet absolu de son art, et peut-être même de l'art de jouer du violon. Deux documents plus anciens (1950), dont une fantastique Habanera de Sarasate qui n'avait guère circulé que sur un rarissime microsillon du label Penzance, complètent ce double album agrémenté de superbes photos. The release of previously unseen recordings of Jascha Heifetz is always an event. The two concertos were captured live at a time when the violinist, who had settled in California, still reigned almost unchallenged over the American violin world. [...] Heifetz delivers an anthology-worthy performance, appearing here at the absolute peak of his artistry, and perhaps even of the art of violin playing itself. Two earlier recordings (1950), including a fantastic Sarasate Habanera that had circulated only on a very rare LP from the Penzance label, complete this double album, which is enhanced with superb photographs. [JMM] |
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#11/2017 (UK) This is a valuable addition to the discography. - The Los Angeles concerts of 1963-1964 were given at the Hollywood Bowl, in which Heifetz and Piatigorsky played the Brahms Double with Leonard Bernstein, and at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion where the violinist essayed the Beethoven with Zubin Mehta. Neither concert has apparently been issued before. There are two bonus tracks, previously released, that come from the Bell Telephone Hour with Donald Voorhees conducting in Radio City, New York in February 1950. The Dvořák is tightly coiled, cloaked and hooded, full of inimitable tonal splendour and not remotely relaxed, whilst the Sarasate Habanera is suave and bewitching. Cembal d’amour once issued this (CD-113) but their transfer is cloudy and palpably inferior to this one. |
June 2017 | Jonathan Woolf | MusicWeb International | |
#10/2017 (DE) Man nannte ihn den „Gigli der Violine“, dennoch ist der Name Aldo Ferraresi heute kaum mehr ein Begriff. Ferraresi, 1902 in Ferrara geboren, gehörte zu den bedeutendsten italienischen Geigern des 20. Jahrhunderts. Auf Empfehlung von Jan Kubelik studierte er noch bei Eugène Ysaye, der ihn als einen seiner besten Schüler bezeichnete. Ferraresi profilierte sich als Konzertmeister, Kammermusiker und Solist. Er konzertierte in vielen Ländern Europas, in Russland und den USA mit namhaften Dirigenten wie Hermann Scherchen, Hans Knappertsbusch, Artur Rodzinski und Carlo Maria Giulini. Auch als Violinpädagoge machte sich Ferraresi einen Namen, in späteren Jahren unterrichtete er am Konservatorium Niccolò Piccinni in Bari, das von Nino Rota geleitet wurde. Erst jetzt wird das diskografische Vermächtnis des Geigers wiederentdeckt. Bel canto and virtuoso fire | The violinist Aldo Ferraresi - He was known as the "Gigli of the Violin," yet the name Aldo Ferraresi is hardly familiar today. Born in Ferrara in 1902, Ferraresi was one of the most important Italian violinists of the 20th century. On the recommendation of Jan Kubelik, he also studied with Eugène Ysaÿe, who considered him one of his best pupils. Ferraresi distinguished himself as a concertmaster, chamber musician, and soloist. He performed in many European countries, in Russia, and in the USA with renowned conductors such as Hermann Scherchen, Hans Knappertsbusch, Artur Rodzinski, and Carlo Maria Giulini. Ferraresi also made a name for himself as a violin teacher, and in later years taught at the Niccolò Piccinni Conservatory in Bari, which was directed by Nino Rota. Only now is the violinist's discographical legacy being rediscovered. [NH] |
15 June 2017 ||
#9/2017 (RO) 12 June 2017 | Victor Eskenasy | Suplimentul de Cultura No.569 | Wanda Luzzato: A precocious talent, becoming a great accomplished artist Not long ago, opening the second set of discs of the collection "The Art violin", published for label Rhine Classics (RH-002) by two great enthusiasts of violin in Italy, Gianluca La Villa and Emilio Pessina, I had the surprise to discover George Enescu and his signature in two photos of the booklet. The set is dedicated to the violonist, today almost forgotten, WANDA LUZZATO, according to the subtitle - which takes her professor's statement - "Jenö Hubay's most talented pupil after [Franz von] Vecsey." The eight CDs bring out for the first time the "unpublished recordings 1955-1979", remastered by Emilio Pessina in 24bit/96kHz. |
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#8/2017 (UK) A second release to be devoted to the art of Italian violinist Wanda Luzzato and it appears as an 8-CD box in the second volume of Rhine Classics’s exciting new "The Art of Violin" series. This outstanding box comes with a particularly, indeed conspicuously excellent 32-page booklet, with commentary by Gianluca La Villa. The tapes existed in various states [...] with restoration process completed by the remastering of Emilio Pessina. |
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#7/2017 (HK) This is my top recommended historical recording in this year. - In my opinion, “historical recordings” not only should present the playing style for the specific era, but also should find the best artist and best playing from that era. Wish more musical lovers can understand the efforts of Rhine Classics from this Luzzato’s box set. If you like this Luzzato’s set, the other publications from Rhine Classics (Aldo Ferraresi, Alfonso Mosesti, Jascha Heifetz) will also make you surprised. Rare recordings, fantastic artists, interesting works, all of my concerning points for “historical recordings” are fulfilled in Rhine Classics’ CDs. |
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#6/2017 (FR) Si Aldo Ferraresi est de nos jours méconnu, il fut jadis considéré comme l’un des grands musiciens de son époque. Son héritage discographique nous est offert par un label nouvellement créé, Rhine Classics, dans le cadre de la série "L’Art du violon". C’est celle-ci, ainsi qu’une légèreté d’archet extraordinaire, qui planent sur les interprétations du violoniste: Ferraresi fait chanter son instrument comme peu d’autres. C’est pourquoi, d’ailleurs, on l’appelle le "Gigli du violon", comparant ainsi son art à celui de Beniamino Gigli, qui possédait une des plus belles voix jamais entendues, avec une maîtrise totale du style et de la technique belcantistes. |
25 May 2017 | Maciej Chizynski | ResMusica | À emporter, CD | Les Clefs du mois | |
#5/2017 (UK) Valuable recorded documents from the Wanda Luzzato Archive. - I would encourage all violin afficionados to explore this compelling collection. I’m most impressed by Rhine Classics presentation. Everything about this production spells quality. [...] Luzzato commands a formidable technique. Her tone is sweet and pure and comes over as silvery in some recordings. Her vibrato is on the fast side, and her coloristic range isn’t as varied as the likes of say Menuhin, Heifetz or Perlman. Intonation is for the most part pristine. She seems to be greatly influenced by Heifetz in her use of expressive slides and position changes. Emilio Pessina's expert restorations and remasterings are to be commended. |
May 2017 | Stephen Greenbank | MusicWeb International | Recording Of The Month | |
#4/2017 (UK) Valuable additions to the Heifetz discography using a high quality remastering process. - These audio documents have been expertly restored and emerge warmly defined and vibrant, having been given a new lease of life by Emilio Pessina. I’m pleased that the soloist’s pre-performance tuning and applause has been retained, as this creates some of the atmosphere of the live event. There is an added bonus in the form of some beautifully produced black and white photographs of the musicians, including several I have never seen before. |
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#3/2017 (UK) The value of this release lies in the rarity of these captivating scores, performed by a violinist with a close affinity to both. - This interesting release focuses on the Italian violinist Alfonso Mosesti (b.1924). The recordings have scrubbed up well for their age and provenance thanks to the expert remastering of Emilio Pessina. The documentation is second-to-none, written by Gianluca La Villa, who sets the music in some sort of historical context. The beautifully reproduced black and white photographs are the icing on the cake. |
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#2/2017 (UK) This new box does Ferraresi’s memory proud. - A splendid and attractive conventional box. There is a 32-page booklet in which one can find full discographic information, an excellent biographical portrait and some splendidly reproduced photographs. A further piece of good news is that advances in restoration have taken place so that the tapes and LP transfers sound better now, in a number of cases, than in their first appearance [...] the recorded sound varies [...] but Emilio Pessina has done a fine job on all these matters. Ferraresi was a rather fascinating character and these performances, invariably show spontaneity and excitement. Full marks to all concerned for revisiting and enlarging and improving the already substantial earlier edition. |
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#1/2017 (RO) 16 & 23 January 2017 | Victor Eskenasy | Suplimentul de Cultura | Italian musical heritage: Aldo Ferraresi - talking with Emilio Pessina: No.550 - Part I | No.551 - Part II An admirable set of 18 CD, published by label Rhine Classics. - The box, that puts together Aldo Ferraresi 's 1929-1973 recordings, is the first from a very promising series named "The Art of Violin". Born in 1902, Ferraresi, recommended to Ysaye [...] made further an admirable carrier, especially in Italy, playing under great conductors, not the last Celibidache. An American critic wrote that there are many tapes with Ferraresi, and he urged to be published. Today is done, result of the collaboration between professionist of the violin, Gianluca La Villa and audio restoration engineer and producer Emilio Pessina, that gave us an exclusive interview. |
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#2/2016 (FR) Aldo Ferraresi - Un splendide coffret qui répare une injustice de l'histoire. Belle présentation, renseignements discographiques précis, nombreuses photographies, biographie détaillée. Je vais écouter cela avec la plus grande attention. Bravo. |
November 2016 | Jean-Michel Molkhou -critique musical pour Diapason- |
#1/2016 (UK) Magnificent Aldo Ferraresi box set. What can I say the set is a masterpiece, beautifully presented and a real work of art. I was delighted. Let me once again thank you for your magnum opus, the Ferraresi Box, which I shall treasure and am proud to add to my collection. Your grateful friend. |