New Yorker Magazine Best of 2004
Ralph
by Russell Platt
The New Yorker
Issue of 2005-01-17
John Adams, "On the Transmigration of Souls" (Nonesuch)-At its world
première, this piece, an ambitious memorial to the victims of 9/11, seemed
like a modest success, but on record it has an overwhelming power; Lorin
Maazel's command of the score, and the New York Philharmonic's expert
playing, brings it to life.
Leon Fleisher, "Two Hands" (Vanguard)-An Indian-summer album of piano works
by Bach, Chopin, and others from the eminent musician, who has at last
regained the use of both his hands. No American pianist can equal his
combination of supple phrasing, intellectual mastery, and interpretive
depth.
Daniel S. Godfrey, "String Quartets Nos. 2 and 3; 'Romanza'" (Koch)-The
loveliest ten minutes of new music this year comes courtesy of Godfrey,
whose "Romanza" filters the lyrical spirit of Borodin and early Stravinsky
through an elegantly patrician modern style. The Cassatt String Quartet
plays it beautifully.
Joseph Haydn, "The Seasons" (Harmonia Mundi)-Once again, the early-music
maestro René Jacobs is the conductor of the year. He recorded not only a
refreshingly earthy account of Mozart's "Le Nozze di Figaro" (with Simon
Keenlyside and Angelika Kirchschlager, among other singers) but also this
colorful performance of Haydn's rarely heard oratorio, featuring the
R.I.A.S. Chamber Choir, whose members sing with the agility of soloists.
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, "Handel Arias" (Avie)-Lieberson, the most
emotionally resonant singer today, finds a nuanced style for each of these
gems, a selection that includes arias from the opera "Serse" and the
oratorio "Theodora," along with the cantata "La Lucrezia." Harry Bicket and
the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment accompany her with sensitive and
powerful playing.
Anne-Sophie Mutter, "Tchaikovsky/Korngold Violin Concertos" (Deutsche
Grammophon)-The mannerist extremes of Mutter's style make her recording of
the Korngold Concerto just as persuasive as Heifetz' arch-Romantic rendering
of fifty years ago. Her husband, André Previn, conducting the London
Symphony Orchestra, knows the composer's music better than anyone. Their
account of the Tchaikovsky, with the Vienna Philharmonic, is equally
bracing.
Schubert, "Winterreise"- Recordings from two utterly different tenors
illuminate Schubert's desolate cycle. Ian Bostridge (on EMI), accompanied by
Leif Ove Andsnes, provides an immaculate reading full of psychological
subtlety; Jon Frederic West (on Medici Classics), with Jerome Rose at the
piano, harks back to an age when hefty Wagnerian voices tackled this piece
with unabashed emotion.
Schumann, "The Symphonies" (Teldec)-Many conductors see Schumann's four
symphonies as the poor stepchildren of the German repertoire, but Daniel
Barenboim will have none of it. Here, in a tail-end release from 2003, he
leads passionate, hard-driving, and committed performances from the
Staatskapelle Berlin, one of the last European ensembles to retain a
burnished, Old World sound.
Ludwig Senfl, "Im Maien" (Harmonia Mundi)-The matchless viol consort
Fretwork and the tenor Charles Daniels pay tribute to Senfl, one of the
first masters of German song, in compelling performances that highlight both
the music's rough-hewn energy and its exquisite contrapuntal craft.
Augusta Read Thomas, "Words of the Sea/In My Sky at Twilight" (ARTCD)-Many
composers are selling their music on the Web these days, but few more
cannily than Thomas, the most accessible ambassador of the new modernism.
She has produced an invigorating disk of two major works performed by the
Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Chicago MusicNOW Ensemble, both conducted
by the formidable Pierre Boulez.
Rolando Villazón, "Italian Opera Arias" (Virgin)-Another great young tenor
comes along to quell fears of a post-Pavarotti drought. Villazón's florid
and affecting singing, accompanied here by the excellent Munich Radio
Orchestra under Marcello Viotti, offers a combination of intelligence and
glamour not seen since the ascendancy of Domingo.
Copyright © CondéNet 2005. All rights reserved.
Matthew B. Tepper
to be typed in news:LhBEd.3191$KJ2...@newsread3.news.atl.earthlink.net:
> The year's best CDs, in alphabetical order.
No Sony product. Imagine that.
--
Matthew B. Tepper: WWW, science fiction, classical music, ducks!
My personal home page -- http://home.earthlink.net/~oy/index.html
My main music page --- http://home.earthlink.net/~oy/berlioz.html
To write to me, do for my address what Androcles did for the lion
Take THAT, Daniel Lin, Mark Sadek, James Lin & Christopher Chung!
pavane
"Ralph" <NoSp...@semq.com> wrote in message
news:LhBEd.3191$KJ2...@newsread3.news.atl.earthlink.net...
> The year's best CDs, in alphabetical order.
> by Russell Platt
> The New Yorker
> Issue of 2005-01-17
>
works
> by Bach, Chopin, and others from the eminent musician, who has at last
> regained the use of both his hands. No American pianist can equal his
> combination of supple phrasing, intellectual mastery, and interpretive
> depth.
>
Nominated for the most inane comment of the year so far. What other-
nationality pianists can equal his playing, Russian? Lithuanian? Czech?
Iraqi or Palestinian?
How dumb can commentary get?
pavane
Matthew B. Tepper
following letters to be typed in
Perhaps Platt simply recognizes a great pianist, and is proud to be of the
same nationality.
Dan Koren
news:LhBEd.3191$KJ2...@newsread3.news.atl.earthlink.net...
>
works
> by Bach, Chopin, and others from the eminent musician, who has at last
> regained the use of both his hands. No American pianist can equal his
> combination of supple phrasing, intellectual mastery, and interpretive
> depth.
>
Sheer idiocy!
dk
LaVir...@aol.com
Fleisher certainly has those qualities.
The New Yorker Magazine attempts to put the reader at ease with a very
unique, polished style of deliberate casualness, which, in this case,
turns out unintentionally [I think] to be a hurtful [to other American
pianists] remark. That is to say, it appears ever so chic not to know
**too** much about anything! There are exceptions, of course. I
cherish the New Yorker Magazine on the whole; it's more than an adult
comic book--not that much more, [it's been fluffy off and on off late]
but more. [Just kidding] We need laughter too. and, besides,
musicians can always view comments like this as a challenge. I
wouldn't ever want be without the New Yorker, faults and all.
*************Val
Gerrit Stolte
> "pavane" <pavanecas...@somewhere.rr.com> appears to have caused the
> following letters to be typed in
> news:P4IEd.215586$Oc.1...@tornado.tampabay.rr.com:
>
>> "Ralph" <NoSp...@semq.com> wrote in message
>> news:LhBEd.3191$KJ2...@newsread3.news.atl.earthlink.net...
>>> The year's best CDs, in alphabetical order.
>>> by Russell Platt
>>> The New Yorker
>>> Issue of 2005-01-17
>>>
>>> Leon Fleisher, "Two Hands" (Vanguard)-An Indian-summer album of piano
>>> works by Bach, Chopin, and others from the eminent musician, who has at
>>> last regained the use of both his hands. No American pianist can equal
>>> his combination of supple phrasing, intellectual mastery, and
>>> interpretive depth.
>>>
>>
>> Nominated for the most inane comment of the year so far. What other-
>> nationality pianists can equal his playing, Russian? Lithuanian? Czech?
>> Iraqi or Palestinian?
>>
>> How dumb can commentary get?
>
> Perhaps Platt simply recognizes a great pianist, and is proud to be of the
> same nationality.
Just before printing deadline, Editor calls Platt: "Hey, the layout wants
another word in your Fleisher review."
--
Gerrit
"In Deutschland gilt derjenige als viel gefährlicher, der auf den Schmutz
hinweist als der, der ihn gemacht hat." (Carl von Ossietzky, 1889-1938)
pavane
"Matthew B. Tepper" <oy兀earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:Xns95DAD08611B...@207.217.125.201...
> "pavane" <pavanecas...@somewhere.rr.com> appears to have caused the
> following letters to be typed in
> news:P4IEd.215586$Oc.1...@tornado.tampabay.rr.com:
>
> > "Ralph" <NoSp...@semq.com> wrote in message
> > news:LhBEd.3191$KJ2...@newsread3.news.atl.earthlink.net...
> >> The year's best CDs, in alphabetical order.
> >> by Russell Platt
> >> The New Yorker
> >> Issue of 2005-01-17
> >>
> >> Leon Fleisher, "Two Hands" (Vanguard)-An Indian-summer album of piano
> >> works by Bach, Chopin, and others from the eminent musician, who has at
> >> last regained the use of both his hands. No American pianist can equal
> >> his combination of supple phrasing, intellectual mastery, and
> >> interpretive depth.
> >>
> >
> > Nominated for the most inane comment of the year so far. What other-
> > nationality pianists can equal his playing, Russian? Lithuanian? Czech?
> > Iraqi or Palestinian?
> >
> > How dumb can commentary get?
>
> Perhaps Platt simply recognizes a great pianist, and is proud to be of the
> same nationality.
>
Then why didn't he say so instead of offering this grammatically incorrect
absurdity?
pavane