CONTENTS
GRAMOPHONE is published by MA Business & Leisure Ltd, St Jude’s Church, Dulwich Road, London SE24 0PB, United Kingdom. gramophone.co.uk email gramophone@markallengroup.com or subscriptions@markallengroup.com Volume 93 Number 1132 EDITORIAL Phone 020 7738 5454 Fax 020 7733 2325 email gramophone@markallengroup.com EDITOR AND PUBLISHER Martin Cullingford DEPUTY EDITOR Sarah Kirkup / 020 7501 6365 REVIEWS EDITOR Hugo Shirley / 020 7501 6367 ONLINE CONTENT EDITOR James McCarthy / 020 7501 6366 SUB-EDITOR David Threasher / 020 7501 6370 ART DIRECTOR Dinah Lone / 020 7501 6689 PICTURE EDITOR Sunita Sharma-Gibson / 020 7501 6369 AUDIO EDITOR Andrew Everard EDITORIAL ADMINISTRATOR Libby McPhee LIBRARIAN Richard Farr THANKS TO Hannah Nepil, Marija �uric´ Speare and Charlotte Gardner EDITOR-IN-CHIEF James Jolly
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EDITOR’S CHOICE
The 12 most highly recommended recordings of the month
7
FOR THE RECORD
The latest classical music news
8
RECORDING OF THE MONTH 24 Vilde Frang brilliantly pairs Korngold and Britten
ORCHESTRAL
26
Harnoncourt’s fascinating Beethoven; Nielsen’s Violin Concerto from Cecilia Zilliacus and his complete symphonies from Paavo Järvi
CHAMBER
46
The Cecilia Quartet’s compelling Mendelssohn; Jos van Immerseel’s birthday Schubertiade; Boulez to Zanési: Megadisc’s modern music
INSTRUMENTAL
56
Jonathan Plowright continues his Brahms survey in style; magnificent Medtner from Yevgeny Sudbin; a richly researched Widor project
VOCAL
70
Archive Anthony Rolfe Johnson from Brussels; La Risonanza’s latest Handelian foray; Gardiner’s moving Monteverdi from Versailles
REISSUES
80
Neglected pianist Eugene Istomin given deserved prominence by Sony; a Satie set to begin the composer’s anniversary year courtesy of Erato
OPERA
82
Five modern operas; Callas reissued on Blu-ray; two Weinberg releases; Leclair’s only opera
REPLAY
The BBC broadcasts of Nikolai Malko; Toscanini’s last hurrah with the New York Phil
92
BOOKS
94
Geraint Lewis on a revealing Vaughan Williams biography; Kate Molleson on a thought-provoking reassessment of Nadia Boulanger’s life
GRAMOPHONE COLLECTION 100 Bryce Morrison sifts through the available recordings of Chopin’s Berceuse
PIERRE BOULEZ
10
Philip Clark pays tribute to Pierre Boulez, one of the great pioneers of 20th-century Modernism, and a composer and conductor who leaves behind an outstanding legacy of classic recordings
TASMIN LITTLE
16
Charlotte Gardner talks to Tasmin Little about how she has risen to the challenge posed by Beethoven’s violin sonatas, which she has recorded with pianist Martin Roscoe for Chandos
PERIOD-INSTRUMENT HAYDN 20 Ottavio Dantone tells Richard Wigmore about making the first recording of Haydn’s Symphonies Nos 79 and 81 on period instruments
THE MUSICIAN & THE SCORE 44 The score of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Trio in A minor, explored by Trio Con Brio Copenhagen
ICONS
Tully Potter surveys the life and essential recordings of violinist Leonid Kogan
54
CONTEMPORARY COMPOSERS 68 The Austrian composer Friedrich Cerha has had a considerable impact on music, says Liam Cagney
CLASSICS RECONSIDERED 96 Jeremy Nicholas and Rob Cowan discuss the premiere recording of Erich Korngold’s Violin Concerto with Jascha Heifetz from 1953
THE SPECIALIST’S GUIDE 98 Jeremy Dibble offers a guide to unjustly overlooked music from Victorian Britain
PLAYLISTS
Music for Lent; Wood and the Wesleys
107
PERFORMANCES & EVENTS 108 The best classical music concerts worldwide
HIGH FIDELITY
111
Audiolab’s new CD player and amplifier; P5 Wireless headphones from Bowers & Wilkins
LETTERS & OBITUARIES 120 NEW RELEASES 124 REVIEWS INDEX 128 MY MUSIC 130 Rock star Alice Cooper on the appeal of narrating a new recording of Peter and the Wolf
4 GRAMOPHONE FEBRUARY 2016
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