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My latest shipment from MDT contained many excellent discs. Sometimes I'm lucky, like this, and sometimes the impulse purchases don't pan out.
Let's start with the most pleasant surprise of the shipment, Liza Ferschtman on violin with her father, Dmitry Ferschtman, on cello in three duos. I enjoyed Ms. Ferschtman's previous releases. This combination was new to me, but I found the Kodaly, Ravel and Schulhoff duos fascinating music pieces with the two instruments generating unusual colorful sound combinations. It's also an SACD, and the sound is fantastic.
The second surprise is an album on Capriccio of cello works with piano accompanyment. Harriet Krijgh is the cellist with Kamilla Isanbaeva on piano. It's called The French Album and contains the Franck Violin Sonata transcribed (?) for cello. This is one of my favorite violin sonatas, and the cello version makes for an interesting alternative. The other works on the disc include the Debussy Cello Sonata and works by Faure and Offenbach. Again, the music is very interesting and well recorded.
Sayaka Shoji's second disc for Mirare is the two Shostakovich Violin Concertos. The First has become one of my favorite. I'm not that into the Second yet, but I'm working on it. Although Shoji doesn't come as close to destroying her violin on the First as Leila Josefowicz (my favorite performance), she really covers a wide range of moods and colors making the piece seem like one angst-ridden whole. The piece is rightfully quite exhausting yet exhilarating. The recording is well-balanced, detailed and dynamic.
The last three discs are solo piano releases. The Melodie Zhao was the impulse purchase of the order. Just what everyone needs is a new Transcendental Etudes by a sixteen year-old prodigy. To my surprise and enjoyment, this disc is awesome. First, it's one of the best recorded CDs of solo piano I've ever heard. I have several releases of this music where the engineers seem to have lost their mind and messed up basic piano sound. Second, the interpretation is dynamite. Ms. Zhao does not try to play the pieces as fast or as flashy as possible. She plays them as music. The playing is clean and clear. They have shape and flow. I'm sure that this is not the best Transendental Etudes in the world, but it sure is worth hearing many times.
I am a Claire-Marie Le Guay fan, and her latest is a series of bon-bons by Russian masters. It makes a great companion to Yuja Wang's latest release, Fantasia, which is also a set of encores. The two discs have one piece in common. It is Rachmaninov's Etude-tableau in E flat minor. Ms. Wang's is faster and flashier while Ms. Le Guay's is more flowing and emotional. I think that basically sums up the two discs. When I'm in the mood for flashy show pieces, the Wang is perfect. Her Carmen, Sorcerer's Apprentice, and Danse Macabre are amazing. When I'm in the mood for more emotion or a lighter touch, I'll put on the Le Guay. Both are well recorded.
All-in-all a bonanza, an embarrassment of riches. It's what makes music collecting and listening fun.
Follow Ups:
I was listening to the Ravel Violin & Cello Sonata quite a bit recently (the old Isidore Cohen recording, which is very good and sounds great) and think it's an interesting piece that steps outside Ravel's normal style.
It looks like that Krijgh disc unfortunately doesn't include either of Faure's two cello sonatas.
I'd seen that Harriet Krijgh disc listed and was curious about it. I was in a flute master class one time and one of the participants said that a friend had seen the manuscript of the Franck Sonata in one of the museums in France, and that this manuscript had the following title:Sonata in A major
for Violin and Piano
or Cello and Piano
or Flute and Piano
or Piano Four-Hands (!)(I wonder if they meant first edition, rather than manuscript.) Certainly the Cello and Piano version isn't as far removed from the violin version as a piano four-hands version would be! ;-) I have a very fine recording of it with cellist Michaela Fukacova, a babe from yesteryear.
I've been listening a lot to Lisa's recording of the Shostakovich First Concerto, since I'm rehearsing it for my first time next Saturday with a (student) violinist at UC Berkeley. I have a certain trepidation about it, since the last movement is so awkward and fast (and the changes of meter seem to occur at just the wrong times!). So far, I'm not always able to keep up with Lisa and Esa-Pekka - but I have a few more days to try to rev it up further. ;-) I'm sure I'll also be checking out Shoji's performance soon!
Thanks for the news and for your impressions of all of these discs!
Edits: 04/22/12 04/22/12
It has always been well-known that Franck considered the sonata playable by the flute and cello as well as the violin, though I didn't know about the piano four hands option. Of course, there is a good chance this was his publisher's idea in order to make the sheet music more popular. IMO it is far more successful on the violin than on the flute or even the cello, though it is routinely performed by flutists.
In contrast, the Prokofiev Op. 94 sonata was definitely written for the flute only, and only later adapted by Prokofiev for the violin at the request of David Oistrakh.
The Richard Strauss Op. 18 violin sonata is IMO far more successful played by the flute than the Franck sonata. Have you played that one, Chris? Good stuff.
Yes - my understanding about the Prokofiev Op. 94 Sonata was that it was originally written for flute, transcribed/adapted for the violin at Oistrakh's request (as you say). But I believe I'd heard that somewhere along the line, the original flute manuscript was lost and that the flute version played today is a transcription back from the violin version. Do you know anything about this? BTW, there's a very interesting edition which has both the flute part and the violin part (with their at times differing figures) above the piano part. I have it, and it's very interesting, but I don't use it for performance, because there are extra page turns. ;-)
I don't know that Strauss Violin Sonata very well - I think I've heard it only once or twice. I did like it very much - the piano part sounds like it could be difficult. I've never heard a flute version of it however. I do love the Strauss Cello Sonata, which I've played a few times.
BTW, along with Strauss's remark, "never look at the brass - it only encourages them!", have you heard his other rule for conductors? "Never let the horns and the woodwinds out of your sight. If you can hear them at all, they're still too strong!" ;-)
As for the various editions of the Prokofiev sonata, I would have to check with some of the experts on this issue, especially Patricia Harper. My understanding is that after Prokofiev revised it for violin, some flutists adapted some of those revisions for themselves.Jean-Pierre Rampal's edition by International in particular has many of the violin changes, or something close to them. In general, Rampal was known for putting in additional ornamentation or making other significant changes to the composer's manuscript in his editions of standard flute repertoire. Many flutists today turn up their noses at his editions for that reason, though he had many good ideas.
The German Sikorski edition is supposed to be very close to the true flute original, in fact originally the Sikorski edition was no more than a facsimile of the original Russian flute edition. I too have the MCA edition with both the flute and violin parts, but it is apparently no longer available. For legal reasons, you now have to buy the Sikorski edition if you want the true original flute version.
There are recordings using both the original flute edition and an adaptation from the violin sonata.
Edits: 04/23/12
I used to play the Prokofiev with flutists exclusively, and it's only in recent years that I've been playing more with string players. I still play from my "flute" piano part, but last Saturday, I had an unexpected rehearsal with a violinist whose teacher provided me with the nominally Oistrakh-edited "violin" piano part. As far as what was shown as the "solo" line in the piano part - there was no difference (i.e., it was the same as the nominally Rampal-edited flute edition), even though in the actual violin part (from which the violinist was playing), there WERE differences! (IOW, the solo violin part did not correspond to what was shown in the solo lines of the "violin" piano part!) Sounds as if this piece is in an even murkier state than I originally thought - of course, in this case it could just be International Edition saving a bit of cash on their printing costs for the piano part! ;-)
Interesting. As you probably know, International editions have a reputation for containing many errors, but they aren't alone. Publishers often make mistakes in copying the separate solo instrument part from the part included with the piano score. In my copy of the Strauss violin sonata adapted for flute and piano and published by Universal, there is an entire measure missing in the flute part.
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