Perlman and Argerich have only played together once before, but there is no denying their synchronicity.

Musical delights from Australia’s premier player of the recorder.

The piano four-hands configuration is surely one of the more humble performance traditions, shirking the flashy egoism of solo playing in favour of friendly fun. But that’s not to say the music isn’t virtuosic, as Anna Grinberg and Liam Viney show in their recent release on ABC Classics, offering an attractive programme of Australian music that’s not without depth. Carl Vine’s Sonata for Piano Four-hands is a multifaceted work that explores the textural combinations possible where four hands share melodies and accompanying figures that ripple and dance with a modal energy. Stuart Greenbaum’s own sonata takes inspiration from the cosmos, building a language inspired by the relationship between Sun and Earth – at times powerful and domineering, at others contemplative and spacious. Both works are evocative responses to the four-hands conundrum and make for satisfying listening. Music by Ross Edwards and Peter Sculthorpe tap into the duo’s tradition of music for younger players. Edwards’ Nine Bagatelles are charming miniatures that dance and play with casual merriment, and occasionally a hint of the telltale Edwards ‘maninya’ style. Sculthorpe’s Four Little Pieces are all arrangements of previous works for piano, imbued with a lyrical melodic character. Elena Kats-Chernin’s Victor’s… Continue reading Get…

A return to first love: Brodskys bring searing intensity to a cycle of "old friends".

Aussie fire warms a dark winter's night in London.

Joseph Nolan plans to welcome the Queen of Sheba amongst a programme ranging from Bach to Britten. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Newly recovered and recorded, the composer whose life was cut short at the Somme is assuming his rightful place.

A powerful, immersive soundscape that harnesses the resonant space of the Sydney Town Hall.

You never know what you’ll get when a label releases music by unknown composers. Here the Szymanowski’s and Plowright bring us piano quintets by two Poles plucked from the relative obscurity of the early 20th century. At a time when trailblazers like Stravinsky and Schoenberg were making their modernist mark, many others were remaining faithful to the good old ways of 19th-century Romanticism. Ludomir Różycki and Ignaz Friedman are two such late, Late-Romantics. First up on the disc, Różycki’s Quintet is a wonderful find. Its opening movement has a brooding, romantic character, marked by dramatic swells with gentle hints at the French impressionist sound that had also inspired his more famous compatriot and the quartet’s namesake. The second movement is more solemn, with a greater sense of darkness and melancholy. Plowright and the Quartet are in perfect synchronicity here, elegantly capturing the Adagio’s various moods, particularly cellist Marcin Sieniawski in his impassioned solos. The third movement is perhaps the freshest sounding, having some of the effervescent character of Ravel’s String Quartet second movement. Ignaz Friedman was a pianist-composer with an Australian connection. As a Jew during Nazi-occupied Poland,… Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already…

The Heath Quartet’s lush, integrated sound in the opening chords of Tchaikovsky’s optimistic String Quartet No 1 in D, Op. 11, sets the tone for this disc – the English ensemble’s debut on Harmonia Mundi.Written for an all-Tchaikovsky concert intended to bolster the young composer’s reputation, the First Quartet is bright. The players trace sensitive arcs with muted strings in the delicate, folk-inspired second movement while the Scherzo hums with energy, the quartet producing a full, vibrant sound before the joyous romp of the quartet’s finale. From Tchaikovsky’s first (full-length) quartet, The Heath Quartet takes us to his last, composed only five years later. The Quartet No 3 in E Flat Minor, Op. 30, is darker and more nuanced than the First, composed in response to the death of violinist Ferdinand Laub. It opens with a melancholy Allegro Sostenuto that the Heath Quartet swells with passion, infusing the weighty 15-minute movement with moments of fragility and power. The funereal third movement maintains a pulsing intensity, the quartet driving forward rather than letting the music bog down in tragedy. The players bring out the ambiguities of the finale’s determined brightness, quiet pizzicatos before the final coda, a… Continue reading Get unlimited…

Formerly known as orchestra seventeen88, young period ensemble ARCO has announced its ambitious 2017 season. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Bologna’s musical history is a particularly rich and cosmopolitan one, and this recording by Roman period instrument ensemble Musica Antiqua Latina brings together the music of some of the Baroque composers associated with the city. There is a trio sonata by Giovanni Battista Bassani, long thought to have been Corelli’s teacher (though this is unlikely). A fine ciaccona by Maurizio Cazzati, who as maestro di cappella of St. Petronio had such an effect on the development of music in Bologna. Two trio sonatas from the famous Opus 3 and a ciaccona by Corelli himself, who studied in Bologna as a young man before moving to Rome. A trio sonata by Giovanni Maria Bononcini, whose son was a member of St. Petronio’s orchestra. A sonata by Giuseppe Torelli, whose Bolognese music for trumpet in particular is well known. A balletto by the Bolognese cello virtuoso Domenico Gabrielli. Another balletto by Giovanni Battista Vitali, also a Bolognese cellist of some repute who strongly influenced the development of the trio sonata. Finally, there is a delightful trio sonata by that most prolific of composers, ‘anon’. Founded by Giordano Antonelli in 2000, Musica Antiqua Latina also comprises four baroque violinists –… Continue reading Get…