From the sublime to the ridiculous, the British pianist describes the challenges of Haydn, Beethoven and Brahms.

Kissin in the moonlight: Evgeny Kissin gives us mature and dazzling Beethoven.

Life-affirming musicianship led by an esteemed British clarinettist and maestro.

A reliable repertoire graces the new self-titled release from Charmian Gadd and Phillip Shovk. Recorded two years ago at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, the album features three sonatas for violin and piano. All in major keys, the works offer a chance to carve out an hour-or-so and indulge in some fine 19th-century music. Gadd’s timbre on violin is luscious with high frequencies in the opening Brahms Violin Sonata No 1 in G. Shovk burbles away with a neat brush of the keys, which satisfies the need for a fuller and warmer foundation of sound. In his notes, Shovk informs us this work is in the style of Beethoven – perhaps a reason he chose the master’s Sonata No 10 in G to complete the album. But sandwiched between these two legendary composers is Fauré: his Violin Sonata No 1 in A. A pivotal work in the chamber repertoire, Fauré’s music is composed and performed with affection (except during the rumbling momentum of the Allegro vivo). The Beethoven eventually arrives with a frisky little trill, instruments echoing each other before joining in rhythmic unison. In this Allegro moderato, Gadd and Shovk bare their abilities to respond acutely to each other’s musical approaches….

Bold, energetic performances of works old and new.

The pianist – whose new Beethoven disc is out today – talks about the musicians who influenced his own music-making. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Polished Bruckner and beatific Beethoven from Simone Young and the SSO.

On the final disc of Yevgeny Sudbin’s Beethoven concerto cycle with Osmo Vänskä, the Russian pianist gives a vivacious account of Beethoven’s first two published forays into the genre – Sudbin has been working backwards through the concertos. He’s accompanied on this release by the Finnish Tapiola Sinfonietta, rather than the Minnesota Orchestra, with whom he recorded the rest of the series. The First Concerto’s Allegro con brio is brilliantly articulate – every note is alive and charged with energy. Sudbin deliberately eschews Beethoven’s cadenzas in the first movement for one he describes as a “cocktail of material” based on one by Friedman – a shimmery, almost gushily romantic flourish that bounces into the final tutti. Sudbin traces crystalline melodies in the pulsing Largo and the Tapiola’s clarinet player draws clean lines in the prominent solo part. The finale barrels along with a relentless joy and a jocular cadenza (all Sudbin). The Tapiola’s sound is full and healthy – a little too healthy, perhaps, though this gives moments like the fugal section in the first movement of Piano Concerto No 2 plenty of heft. There are some dreamlike moments in the Adagio, before the comically bright Rondo… Continue reading Get…

Misunderstood in their own day, what is it about Beethoven’s late string quartets that keeps players and audiences coming back?

For the English pianist soon to tour Australia, Schubert is like wine – he gets better and better with age. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

The Dutch cellist talks about the pleasures and challenges of performing a three-night marathon of the masters’ cello works. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Carl Czerny was a piano student of Beethoven, and played his teacher’s sonatas as they appeared. As a composer he was responsible for many pieces designed to address specific aspects of piano technique. In time, Czerny taught Liszt and possibly influenced his writing; hence the CD title, Master & Pupil. Melvyn Tan first came to prominence as a proponent of the fortepiano, recording the Beethoven concertos on that instrument in the early 1990s with period-style conductor Roger Norrington. Here Tan plays a modern Steinway, but his classical sensibility remains in terms of polish over profundity. Having said that, he employs appropriately Romantic rubato in both the Beethoven Sonata No 30 and Liszt’s B Minor Sonata, and his overview of those two masterpieces contains much lovely playing, while always remaining in scale. In the Liszt we are probably used to more sheer heft, but Tan’s subtle detail proves engrossing. Beethoven’s Six Bagatelles (his final piano composition) benefit from the simplicity of Tan’s approach; he does not push them out of shape by being over-emotive. To my mind, the pianist is most impressive in the Czerny works: the Variations on a Theme by Rode, and the Funeral March… Continue reading Get unlimited…