Reviews | PORTFOLIO 2024-2025

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

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

9 March 2025 | Stephen Greenbank | MusicWeb International

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

30 January 2025 | Jonathan Woolf | MusicWeb International

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

16 January 2025 | Jonathan Woolf | MusicWeb International

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

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

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

21 November 2024 | Stephen Greenbank | MusicWeb International

A worthy release of outstanding playing [SG]

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

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

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

11 November 2024 | Stephen Greenbank | MusicWeb International

Of limited interest to Kreisler collectors [SG]

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

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

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

14 October 2024 | Jonathan Woolf | MusicWeb International

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

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

 

RECOMMENDED / RECORDING OF THE MONTH Oct.2024

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

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

23 September 2024 | Jonathan Woolf | MusicWeb International

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

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

19 September 2024 | Stephen Greenbank | MusicWeb International

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

22 August 2024 | Jonathan Woolf | MusicWeb International

A Romanian Paganini specialist whose career trailed away [JW]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

An exciting discovery [SG]

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