Moscheles- Hummel Cellosonatas. Jiri Barta-Hamish Milne. Hyperion 2006 'Following its delightful versions of his piano concerti, led from the keyboard by Howard Shelley, Hyperion continues its championship of Moscheles's work with the elegant cello sonata dedicated to Schumann. He is often bracketed with his contemporary Hummel, whose own cello sonata is a classic of spacious romanticism. Both are lovingly played by the Czech cellist Jiri Barta' (The Observer) 'The lion's share of the material falls to Hamish Milne, whose liquid-clear articulation allows the music to flow unimpeded by any mannerisms whatsoever. For his part cellist Jiri Barta provides an equally virtuosic and eloquent rendition - taste and idiomatic faithfulness being the key criteria' (The Strad) 'Bárta and Milne strike just the right note: these aren't bravura pieces, and they play them as would two friends convivially making music in the drawing-room and deriving unemphatic pleasure from the experience A delightfully demure, teasingly tuneful release, which has brought me much pleasure' (International Record Review) 'with such strong, sympathetic playing and clear, carefully-balanced recordings this Hyperion disc is a must for adventurous cellists and listeners alike' (BBC Music Magazine) '...the works, intimate in tone and refined in sentiment, make extremely congenial discmates' (Fanfare, USA) 'La sonorité trčs chaude du violoncelle et l'articulation parfaite du piano conviennent parfaitement au caractčre de ces śuvres...il sera difficile de faire mieux dans ce répertoire' (Classica-Répertoire, France) 'Je ne peux... priver ce CD merveilleux du 10/10 qui lui sied si bien, car cette musique qui n'ambitionne pas d'égaler les Sonates de Beethoven et de Brahms, est une pure merveille' (ClassicsTodayFrance.com)
Classics Today.com - Your Online Guide to Classical Music ANTONÍN DVORÁK Cello Concerto in A; Polonaise; Rhondo; Silent Woods; Slavonic Dances Op. 46 Nos. 3 & 8 Jirí Bárta (cello); Jan Cech (piano) Supraphon- 1111467-2 132(CD) Reference Recording - Concerto: Sádlo (Supraphon) Jirí Bárta and Jan Cech present Dvorák's "first" Cello Concerto in A in its original version for cello and piano (the more famous one we all know and love is technically "No. 2"). The Concerto was commissioned in 1865 by cellist Ludvík Peer who then took the score out of Bohemia, after which it did not surface again until the 1920s. The work is known today primarily through Jarmil Burghauser's orchestration, which included revisions (as well as cuts) by cellist Milos Sádlo (type Q4919 in Search Reviews). Dvorák's unabridged original is a good deal longer, running to almost 56 minutes in performance, allowing the composer's long-breathed thematic complexes take their time rounding their course. This works well in the first-movement exposition, where Bárta's gloriously robust tone and Cech's fulsome, firmfingered playing sing out the irresistibly beautiful tunes. However, the development tends to drag on, making it easy to get lost in Dvorák's seemingly endless modulations (stretching the movement to more than 24 minutes). But you almost don't mind, given the rapturous playing and Supraphon's solidly three-dimensional and dynamically true recording. The Andante cantabile actually is the finest movement--spare in utterance yet deeply felt, it anticipates the more mature slow movements of Dvorák's later years. The finale returns to the lavishly prolific style of the first movement (some of the repetitive material would be cut in Burghauser's version), but here the music's buoyant rhythmic energy makes its 21 minutes pass quickly. Still in all, this is a COMPLETE PIANO MUSIC, VOL. 5 HEITOR VILLA-LOBOS Sonia Rubinsky (piano) Naxos DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH Various soloists Russian Philharmonic Orchestra Thomas Sanderling Deutsche Grammophon CHARLES IVES Donnie Ray Albert (baritone) Dallas Symphony Orchestra & Chorus Andrew Litton Hyperion MEDIEVAL CHRISTMAS Music from the 10th to 16th centuries by Dufay, Clemens non Papa, Loyset Compère, Arnold de Lantins, Busnois, Brumel, & Anonymous The Orlando Consort Harmonia Mundi http://www.classicstoday.com/review.asp?reviewnum=5624 (1 of 2)26.12.2006 23:04:47
Classics Today.com - Your Online Guide to Classical Music compelling performance of an important work in the Dvorák canon. Dvorák's smaller works for cello and piano (included on a second disc) find Bárta and Cech no less persuasive. Their heartfelt renditions of Silent Woods, Polonaise in A, and Rhondo in G, are balanced by their roughhousing in Slavonic Dance No. 8, which, removed of all its brightlycolored woodwinds and glittering percussion, sounds like the kind of down-and-dirty country dance Dvorák might have heard in his native village. In sum, this is a collection of wonderful music, wonderfully made-- something no fan of Dvorák, or the cello, should be without. KAROL SZYMANOWSKI Iwona Sobotka (soprano); Timothy Robinson (tenor); Katerina Karneus (mezzo-soprano) City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra & Chorus Simon Rattle EMI --Victor Carr Jr Click here for upcoming release information, current catalog and news about Supraphon. ABOUT US ABOUT THE RATINGS WELCOME HOME Monthly Composer Soloist Conductor Digest Digest Digest Digest Orchestra/ Ensemble Digest 1999-2004 ClassicsToday.com. All rights reserved. http://www.classicstoday.com/review.asp?reviewnum=5624 (2 of 2)26.12.2006 23:04:47