Reviews | PORTFOLIO 2022-2023

#10/2023 (US)

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

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

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

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

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

#05/2023 (USA)

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

#06/2022 (FR)

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

#05/2022 (UK)

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