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RACHMANINOFF: Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30. TCHAIKOVSKY:
Nocturne. DVORAK: Symphony No. 9, Op. 95 "From the New World." COPLAND: Billy
the Kid Ballet Suite. SCHUMANN: Piano rio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 63. Fantasiestücke, Op. 88.
Piano Trio No. 2 in F, Op 80. Two years ago this size mentioned a DVD of aconcert given in 2018 at the BBC Proms with Valery Gergiev and the Munich Philharmonic of which he had just become Music Director (REVIEW).It was a long and rather program as you can see from that review. It featured the young Uzbekistanc pianist Behzod Avdurainov playing Rachmaninoff's Concerto No. 3; Now on this SACD we have a performance of the same work with Gergiev, this time with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra from a concert October 4 and 5,2017. Watching the Proms performance I was distracted by the pianist's overdone mandrisims. That is not a concern on this audio disk, and here is no question that his is a masterful performance. He is given a perfect accompaniment by the famed Dutch orchesra, and the multi-channel sound is outstanding. Gergiev already has made a superb recording of this concerto with the amazing Denbnis Matsuev and the Mariinsky Oerchestr, praised on this site (REVIEW). This new Avdurainov versio surely is amog the finest of the work nd has the advantage of the rich Concertgebouw sound. This site has praised numerous recordings of conductor Gianiandrea Nosoda with various orchestras, and now we have his first as Music Director of Washington's National Symphony. He was appointed to the position beginning with the 2017-2018 season and has been warmly recvied there so much so that his contract has been extended through the 2024-2025 season. The NSO has recorded for various labels over the year, particularly when led by Mstislav Rostropovich who was MNusic Director (1977-1994). Now they have started their own label. This disk is their first, recorded during concerts June 2019 in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. It is not an auspicious beginning to the series. As performances, these Copand / Dvorak staples of the repertory do not impress. They are of course well played, but the Dvorak in particular is prosic lacking the fire and energy of the best of the competition. The recent Baltuimore Symphony / Marin Alsop Naxos version is far superior, in regular stereo. Audio is disappoining. Virually no use is made o f rear speakes, limied except for limited ambient sound. The audio picture is close-up and focuses on srings; brass and percussion are mued and undefined, paricularly noiceable in the Copland Gun Battle episode .Let us hope future releases from this fine orchestra will be more successful both in performance and sonics. Late in his career Robert Schumann wrote his two piano trios and his Fantasiestücke also scored fore the three instruments .All three are heard on this well-filed (76:19) SACD. They are played by Kungsbacka Trio whose members are violinist Malin Broman, cellist Jasper Svedberg, and pianist Simon Crawford-Phillips. Founded in 1997, they have received many prizes and performed extensively recognized as leaders in the chamber music world. They have made a number of recordings of standard repertory for Naxos. Their first BIS recording featured music of Karin Rehnquist. On this new disk they return to standard repertory, and give beautiful performances of these Schumann pieces. The recording was made September 2018 in England's St. Georges Bristol, and engineers have provided a warm, realistic sound. R.E.B. (February 2020). |