With this issue we get to No 59 in Hyperion’s Romantic Piano Concerto series. That’s an awful lot of concertos, and although the series has included Saint-Säens and Rachmaninov, the vast majority of works have been obscure, neglected or (in the current case) completely unknown. The two Polish composers represented here were musicians of local reputation: highly capable but not notably individual. Aleksander Zarzycki was the older (1843-1898). His Grande Polonaise was composed in 1859, and while it has quiet sections and even a passage that sounds like French operetta, its basic aim is to imitate Chopin – for political as much as musical reasons. Chopin remains inimitable, however, and the piece comes over as a Polish imitation of Liszt. Zarzycki’s later Piano Concerto is a compendium of mid-century Romantic gestures, expertly assembled, but it lacks a true memorability that would set it apart. Władysław Żeleński (1837-1921) is slightly better known (though I must confess not to me). His Piano Concerto of 1903, a sprawling work in three movements, shows a sophisticated harmonic and orchestral palette. While possibly overwritten, it contains several individual episodes, like the first movement’s coda in Straussian waltz time… Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per…

Australian Eloquence continues to mine the archives for precious things buried over the years and here is a veritable treasure trove for opera lovers, and Wagner fans in particular, including four albums that should be in any serious vocal collection. Canadian bass-baritone George London’s vocal paralysis at the age of 46 was a tragic loss to opera. He is represented here by excerpts from Rheingold and Parsifal as well as a recital with Knappertsbusch and the Vienna Phil from 1958 when he was at the height of his powers. The voice is dark and glorious, coping with expansive tempi that would have floored a lesser mortal. Astrid Varnay was the Brünnhilde of choice for many in the 1950s but she also did a mean Isolde. A generous double CD comes from DG studio sessions and includes golden swathes of Die Walküre, Siegfried (the entire final scene) and Götterdämmerung as well as nearly an hour of Tristan, all with Windgassen in his prime. The singing is effortless yet impassioned and there’s a fine Wesendonck Lieder as bonus. Two tenors, an oldie and a newie, make the set. Jess Thomas’s Siegfried for Karajan has had a rough ride in the past. The…

Israeli conductor Asher Fisch is no stranger to our shores, being particularly associated with the West Australia and Adelaide symphony orchestras. A generous helping of his landmark 2004 recording of Richard Wagner’s Ring in Adelaide was recently re-released by Melba Recordings, and Daniel Barenboim’s former conducting protégé features in a new release from that prestige label, albeit as a pianist, performing some of Franz Liszt’s paraphrases from five of Wagner’s operas. As a bonus on this excellent and fascinating disc, Fisch performs three rare, short piano pieces Wagner wrote as thankyous to friends and patrons. Liszt started championing his future son-in-law in Weimar in the 1840s where he conducted Tannhäuser and Lohengrin. He wrote 14 paraphrases of Wagner excerpts, with varying degrees of fidelity, over the years before the pair famously fell out over Wagner’s affair and subsequent marriage to Liszt’s already-married daughter Cosima. One can only guess what Wagner must have thought of the liberties “my holy Franz” took with his music in these concert pieces – though the seven featured here are relatively reverential compared with what Liszt did to Verdi on occasions! However, we do know that the younger composer was grateful for the support. When Liszt…

Since 1998, renowned Spanish conductor and gamba player Jordi Savall’s Alia Vox label has been synonymous with stylish packaging of equally stylish performances of early music. In 2007 Savall launched the Alia Vox Heritage collection in order to “offer a fresh vision” of the recordings he and his then wife, the soprano Montserrat Figueras, made with their instrumental and vocal ensembles on the Astrée label between 1977 and 1996. The remastered recordings on the four CDs contained in this handsomely packaged boxed set were originally made on that label between 1987 and 1995. Together they offer a snapshot of the kinds of vocal genres that flourished in Spain between the fifteenth and the seventeenth centuries, including the secular villancico and ensalada (“salad” – a variety of madrigal) and the sacred mass and motet. El Cançoner del Duc de Calàbria features music associated with the court of the Duke of Calabria in Valencia by composers such as Aldomar, Flecha, Morales and Guerrero; another CD is devoted to the sacred music of Joan Cererols, a monk who contributed much to the musical life of the monastery at Montserrat. The remaining two discs are given over to the villancicos and ensaladas of Mateo…

The Welsh baritone on playing Wagner’s ‘complicated’ god and teaming up with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir for his new CD. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Peter Phillips on what makes his choir tick and preparing the for their anniversary Australian tour.

Why do musicians put themselves through the grueling process of competitions and is it ever worth it? Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Iconic director of Wagner’s centenary Ring cyle at Bayreuth passes at 68. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Alice Herz-Sommer, the world’s oldest Holocaust survivor, proves an inspiration in a new documentary. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Leading musicians use concert platform to highlight human rights issues in Putin’s Russia. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Opera singer panned as sexual violence downstairs leaves viewers reeling.

Locked out orchestra sends off their Finnish Principal Conductor with a series of farewell concerts.