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 The composer started to beat out a regular rhythm with his hands, then interjected chanted syncopations. I became a little nervous when the subject turned to...
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Back in Fanfare 35:1, I reviewed a disc of Orchestra 2001 that contained The River Within by Jay Reise, stating that the “composer has created a...
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Q: Let’s begin by discussing your label, LP Classics. When did you conceive the idea, and why? Lavrova: Vassily and I partnered initially as duo pianists...
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Here is something perhaps not unique, but surely a bit unusual and definitely interesting. I admit up front that my acquaintance with the music of Russian...
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In contrast to Rachmaninoff’s familiar suites, Arensky’s contributions to the two-piano repertoire (especially his first three suites) are longer on charm than on substance. Still, that...
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 The album’s title, Discovering a Legend , sums it up succinctly—a major Russian pianist from the golden era (b. 1929; like Richter and Gilels, a pupil...
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Vera Gornostaeva is a highly engaging Chopin player. I have listened to her CD five times thus far, and have not tired of it. She produces...
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 Composer-pianist Gary Smart is a rare bird indeed, being a classical musician other than an organist who can improvise. His career has encompassed a wide range...
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The American composer, pianist, and teacher Gary Smart describes himself as a pluralist. That is to say, he has avoided labels throughout his musical life, even...
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If I had to choose just one word to describe the pianist and composer Gary Smart, the word I would probably use is—well, smart . Currently...
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 Judging from his head of white hair (what’s left of it), white beard, and moustache, I believe it’s safe to assume that Gary Smart is a...
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The Gallo label has released a series of five CDs featuring concert and radio broadcast performances from the 1960s and 1970s by the Swiss-born violinist Ursula...
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The fifth volume of Swiss violinist Ursula Bagdasarjanz’s collection of studio and live recordings on the Gallo label contains three sonatas, one each by Wolfgang Amadeus...
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 Richard Zimdars is a pianist who has been on the faculty of the University of Georgia for almost 30 years. Although he has maintained a career...
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Vincent Persichetti (1915–87) studied at the Philadelphia Conservatory and earned his doctorate there in 1945. He also studied conducting with Fritz Reiner at the Curtis Institute...
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Following his foray into the music of Charles Ives, Henry Cowell, Dane Rudhyar, and Aaron Copland, which was met with great critical acclaim (see James H....
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 Antony Cooke and Armin Watkins both live in Southern California. Cooke lives on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean almost midway between L.A. and San Diego....
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The album’s front and back plates announce, “Beethoven—The Complete Works for Cello and Piano.” Well, almost, but not quite. So far, the only truly complete collection...
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Cellist Antony Cooke has a warm, romantic tone that is perfect for these sonatas. He also has the artistry and technical brilliance to play them effortlessly....
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Here we have yet another recording of Beethoven’s complete oeuvre from cello and piano (minus the very early E♭-sonata, later given op. 64). By my count,...
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 As with his set of Beethoven sonatas, Antony Cooke is again competing with some heavy names, among them Fournier, Bailey, Du Pré, Harrell, Isserlis, Rose, and...
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By now, it’s common knowledge that Brahms did not transcribe his G-Major Violin Sonata for cello, that it was composer and conductor Paul Klengel who transcribed...
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This two-disc set contains three Brahms sonatas for cello and piano. Only two of them were originally written for piano and cello. The piece in D...
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 Chopin wrote most of his compositions for piano, but when he did write for another instrument, it was often for the cello. The earliest piece on...
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Titled Homage to Chopin, this disc combines two pieces actually written by Chopin for the cello, five transcriptions of nocturnes and etudes, and a really unusual...
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Chopin didn’t write enough music for cello and piano to fill an entire CD, and apparently he was none too proud of some of what he...
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 Soprano Louise Toppin is not only talented but plainly a multifaceted woman. Well regarded as a singer and educator (professor and area head of voice at...
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This unusual CD presents four first-time recordings of song cycles by black American composers, sung by soprano Louise Toppin and conducted by one of the composers,...
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 Here’s what you might call a fun CD as well as a musically useful one. Following the publication of all of Hall Johnson’s written spiritual arrangements...
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This recording has a pedagogical mission as well as an entertainment one. It documents 19 arrangements by Hall Johnson (1888–1970) of Negro spirituals, apparently 17 for...
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 I have seen the opinion expressed that the operas of William Grant Still (1895–1978) are unjustly ignored and underperformed, especially in this country, because he was...
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 Most of us parcel out our lives by the clock and the calendar. We struggle to maintain a positive cash flow in a tricky economy that...
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The liner notes describe the music of Keith Kramer as “at times subtle and restrained, and other times ferocious and demanding.” I find that to be...
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In the photo on the back of the booklet, Keith Kramer certainly looks like a composer—and a fine one he is. His aesthetic finds its roots...
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Much of what I have to say about this music has already been said in my opening paragraph to this article and in my review of...
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