Music is the key

Maestro Antonio Pappano insisted he wanted to record with Beatrice Rana, the 22-year-old Italian pianist championed by Martha Argerich who shot to stardom when she claimed the Silver Medal and the coveted Audience Award in the 2013 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. On that occasion, Huffington Post described the seasoned competition winner’s performance as ‘an endlessly fascinating piece of humanity that had the orchestra riveted on every note’. Warner Classics signed this young piano sensation in mid-2015; the Italian virtuoso now makes her label debut with the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under the baton of Sir Antonio Pappano. Recorded in Rome, the formidable programme pairs two Russian masterpieces: a thrillingly fresh take on the warhorse of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No.1 in B-flat minor – an indispensable repertoire benchmark and calling card for concert pianists all over the world – and Prokofiev’s stormy, emotionally charged Piano Concert...

For all their radical stylistic differences, Schumann and Berg were composers whose creative personas had much in common. In particular, both were steeped in literature, and both had a lifelong fascination with cryptograms and numerical symbolism of all kinds. But while Berg’s formative years were spent composing virtually nothing other than Lieder, Schumann turned seriously to song only after a decade spent writing almost exclusively music for solo piano. Not by chance, Schumann’s change of direction in 1840 coincided with his long- postponed marriage to Clara Wieck. In that one year alone, as though in rapturous greeting to his bride, he composed around 130 Lieder — a body of work that is sufficient in itself to place him as second only to Schubert in the pantheon of song composers. One of the cycles of that time, Frauenliebe und -leben, to poems by the French-born Adelbert von Chamisso, itself encapsulates the life of a married woman. “I have lived and loved”, she sings in the la...

Two pearls of pianism: Annie Fischer in a sensitive, chamber-like and exceptionally poetic reading of the Schumann Piano Concerto – one of her favourite pieces. Leon Fleisher, a few months before he was to lose the use of his right hand (recovering it only in old age), with Beethoven’s Second Piano Concerto in an inspirationally bright and crystal clear tone. The eighth disc in the series "LUCERNE FESTIVAL Historic Performances" is dedicated to two piano icons: in 1960 and 1962, with two years between them, Hungarian-born Annie Fischer and the American Leon Fleisher made their debuts at LUCERNE FESTIVAL. Released here for the first time in their entirety, these live recordings document them at the peak of their art. Sviatoslav Richter called her a "brilliant musician", accrediting her with "great breath and true depth". András Schiff acknowledged: "I have never heard more poetic playing in my life." Annie Fischer, born in Bu...

Music for solo violin is still mainly associated with Bach in the eighteenth century and Paganini in the nineteenth. Carolin Widmann, the distinguished German violinist, here provides a varied and vivid survey of such music from the twentieth century, from Ysaÿe in the 1920s to Jörg Widmann (her composer brother) at the turn of the millennium. There is nothing at all in the CD booklet about any of these pieces, though they are unlikely to be at all familiar to most collectors. I describe them below, partly because you need this information for a proper appreciation of the range of what is on offer on this disc, and partly in hope that it might pique your curiosity.  Ysaÿe’s Six sonatas for solo violin, Op. 27, were written in 1923. Each one is dedicated to one of his contemporary violinists, No. 2 to Jacques Thibaud, and No. 4 to Fritz Kreisler. If that was a shrewd way to encourage world-class performances, one hopes it worked, for they are fine works and by no means unworthy o...

Emmanuelle Swiercz started the piano at 9. Two years later she gave her first performance with an orchestra. At the age of 16 she was unanimously accepted by the jury of the National Superior Conservatory of music and dance in Paris into the classes of Michel Béroff, Denis Pascal and Marie-Françoise Bucquet. In 1999, after graduating with distinction, she took part in proficiency courses and simultaneously attended master-classes with György Sebök, György Kurtág, Dmitri Bashkirov, Leon Fleisher and Murray Perahia.  Emmanuelle was sponsored by the Foundation of the French Group Banques Populaires, by the Cziffra Foundation, by the Musical Forum of Normandy, and by the Musical Patronage of SocGen. She won the second prize at the Ricardo Viñes International Competition and the International Music Tournament in Rome, the third Prize at the Città di Camaiore International Competition; she was awarded “Prix Spécial” at the Maria-Canals International Competition. In addition, with the...

Never judge a book by its cover. Mind you, the faux tattoos on Blandine Staskiewicz’s bare shoulders proclaiming ‘Tempesta – Handel & Vivaldi’ make one of the cringeworthiest album covers I’ve seen in a long while (perhaps the lack of available skin explains why Pergolesi and Porpora aren’t mentioned). Quite apart from that, does the world really need yet another ‘Ombra mai fù’? Once past the outward impression, you hear Alexis Kossenko and his orchestra Les Ambassadeurs offering superb value as always. ‘Spesso di nubi cinto’ from Porpora’s Carlo il Calvo launches proceedings thrillingly, with imaginative orchestral phrasing allied to Staskiewicz’s impressively precise and limpidly shaped coloratura, and there’s more virtuoso volatility in ‘Torbido in volto’ from Pergolesi’s Adriano in Siria . Staskiewicz sensibly alternates these stormy arias with a judicious assortment of slow ones; there is gentler melodic sensitivity during Vivaldi’s ‘Sovvente il sole’ from the...

Audrey Vigoureux started to play the piano at the age of 8, at the Academy of Aix-en-Provence, France. She studied both in Paris and Geneva, graduating with the first piano prize with distinction in Paris and a soloist diploma with distinction in Geneva. She has also been rewarded Geneva's Adolph Neumann Prize, the Dumont Prize, and the Filipinetti Prize. Audrey had benefitted from advice from great masters including Andreas Schiff, Charles Rosen, Bella Davidovitch, Jospeh Kalinschtein, Dominique Merlet, and Jean-Claude Pennetier.  Since a very young age, she has been invited to play alone or with orchestras in Europe, Asia and the Americas. Audrey now plays with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and with various orchestras in France and Venezuela. She teaches piano at the Haute Ecole de Musique de Genève. In Frebruary 2014, she recorded a solo disc with music of Bach and Beethoven, under the direction of Nicolas Bartholomée, Little Tribecca/Aparté, which will be released a...

The three quartets of opus 44 are the centrepiece of Felix Mendelssohn’s mature string quartets. He wrote them in the years 1837-38, starting composition at the age of 28, when his fame in the international musical community was rapidly growing. The oratorio St. Paul had recently brought international success. He had directed the renowned Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig since 1835. Now, he travelled constantly between the important musical centres of Europe – conducting, advising major cultural and educational committees, composing commissioned works to order for the major festivals and performing as a pianist, organist and chamber musician for the public and royalty of Europe. Family matters similarly came fast and furious with his wedding to Cécile Jeanrenaud, the daughter of a French Protestant clergyman, in March 1837 and the establishment of a new home in Leipzig. He began composition of the opus 44 quartets during his honeymoon in the Black Forest and completed...

ECHO Klassik award winner Olga Scheps has quickly earned her standing among the established and sought-after pianists of her generation with her individual and characteristic musicality, her captivating stage presence, her scintillating sound and her warm touch. What especially sets her apart from others is her remarkable ability to enthrall her audiences by recounting musical narratives in her interpretations. Olga Scheps was born in Moscow in 1986 and came to Germany at the age of six. She lives in Cologne and studies with Pavel Gililov at Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln. Further studies have led her to Arie Vardi and Dmitrij Bashkirov. Moreover, for nearly ten years now, she has received significant artistic impulses from Alfred Brendel. An exclusive artist of SONYClassical/RCA, Olga Scheps’ debut CD “Chopin” was released in January 2010; she received the ECHO Klassik award as “Newcomer of the Year” in October 2010. She released her second album with works by Russian compos...

This excellent collection comes with a minor caveat, since almost all of these recordings have appeared previously as part of Martha Argerich’s ‘Live at Lugano’ series. Having such a collection of such glorious recordings of Rachmaninov’s multiple-piano/multiple-pianist works together in one place may appeal even if you do have all or some of these desirable Lugano box sets lying around. However, you may want to check the contents before acquiring this set. Argerich has also recorded some of this repertoire elsewhere, for instance in a magnificent recording with Alexandre Rabinovich on Teldec, the Symphonic Dances and Second Suite in particular, but I find myself preferring the spontaneity of the live versions in this collection. Further self-competition in this work comes in the form of a Deutsche Grammophon recording in which Martha Argerich is joined by Nicolas Economou, but even with its many qualities this again lacks the excitement, drive and electric s...

Alina Ibragimova has made many fine recordings in recent years, but this solo Ysaÿe disc must count as one of her most memorable achievements. She gives full value to the sonatas’ varied expressive character, their virtuosity, and the imaginative and poetic way Ysaÿe wrote for his instrument. And she makes the music sound quite beautiful: we never feel the medium of unaccompanied violin is at all limiting; the sonatas speak to us unimpeded, without any sense of strain. Ysaÿe composed the set in 1924, when his illustrious performing career was almost over. He dedicated each of the six to a different colleague among the fraternity of violinists, and we can follow their characteristics through the set—the First Sonata for Joseph Szigeti substantial and serious, and reflecting his prowess as a Bach interpreter; the Third Sonata commemorating the free, romantic style of Enescu, the Sixth Manuel Quiroga’s Spanish heritage, and so on. Ysaÿe sought in all six works to merge...

While Eugene Onegin is Tchaikovsky’s most popular opera, there’s a fair argument that The Queen of Spades is his best. A gripping drama, it requires performances where you believe in Herman’s psychological descent as the desire to learn the secret of the three cards from the old Countess consumes everything, including his love for Lisa. The opera has been lucky on disc, dominated in recent decades by recordings from Valery Gergiev and Seiji Ozawa, both from the early 1990s. They are joined by this resplendent account from Mariss Jansons and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, recorded in concert. Jansons has a fine pedigree in Tchaikovsky (his cycle of the symphonies for Chandos still holds strong) and he paces the opera unerringly well, building tension superbly. His Bavarians respond with atmospheric playing, burnished strings and dark woodwind coloration to the fore. Alexandra Maria Dielitz’s excellent booklet essay explains how the Mariinsky director tried t...

Founded in 1962, the CAMERATA BERN is a highly-acclaimed chamber orchestra uniting top level musicians inspired by the idea of performing within a flexible, self-conducted ensemble. Its members are gifted soloists and chamber musicians. Under its artistic director, the violinist ANTJE WEITHAAS, as well as guest concertmasters Erich Höbarth, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Pekka Kuusisto, Amandine Beyer, Enrico Onofri and others, CAMERATA BERN performs a broad repertoire ranging from early Baroque to today’s composers. The orchestra stands out for its subtle and perfectly homogeneous sound, its freshness and mastery of style. With charisma and spontaneity adding to its ability to thrill its public, CAMERATA BERN is now renowned as one of the prime ensembles among chamber orchestras in Europe. The ensemble’s outstanding qualities has led it to perform with such eminent artists as Heinz Holliger, András Schiff, Vadim Repin, Alexander Lonquich, Jörg Widmann, Sabine Meyer, Tabea...

The young Russian soprano Julia Lezhneva has been described as possessing an “angelic voice” (The New York Times) with “pure tone” (Opernwelt) and “flawless technique” (The Guardian). They are big claims, and she has been living up to them ever since she created a sensation at the Classical Brit awards at London’s Royal Albert Hall in 2010, singing Rossini’s Fra il padre at the invitation of Dame Kiri Te Kanawa.  Born into a family of geophysicists on Sakhalin Island in 1989, she began playing the piano and singing at the age of five. She graduated from the Gretchaninov Music School and continued her vocal and piano studies at the Moscow Conservatory. At 17 she came to international attention winning the Elena Obraztsova International Competition, and at 18 shared the concert stage with Juan Diego Flórez at the opening of the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro. In 2008 she began studying with tenor Dennis O’Neill in Cardiff, completing her training under Yvonne Kenn...

En este lienzo, Pietro Longhi (1701 - 1785) muestra a unos curiosos que han acudido a ver el espectáculo sobre una tribuna de madera, delante de la cual se encuentra el rinoceronte que come con tranquilidad el forraje. Sin embargo, ninguno de los espectadores observa al animal. La elegante dama con el tricornio y la capucha de encaje mira al espectador del cuadro; su enigmático acompañante enmascarado, al igual que el lacayo a su derecha, tiene la mirada puesta en el vacío; el hombre de la pipa de barro, en el borde derecho del cuadro, medita absorto en sus pensamientos; la mujer de la pañoleta verde mira al otro lado y su vecina observa inmóvil a través de un antifaz negro. Ni siquiera la niña muestra interés. Todos están rígidos en su aparente viveza, irreales tras la máscara o la fisonomía . Parecen como citas de una vida que ya no tienen en sí, sino que únicamente exhiben . Delante de esta indiferencia silenciosa, el rinoceronte: pesado, apático, simple, pintado ...

That indefatigable one-man libretto factory Pietro Metastasio is the linking thread in these scenas of damsels in extremis, complemented in Ch’io mi scordi di te by the pseudo-Metastasio of Idomeneo librettist Gianbattista Varesco. With Beethoven’s Ah, perfido!, Christiane Karg’s expressive lyric soprano edges towards Leonore territory in a bid, as she puts it in the booklet interview, ‘to push boundaries, and to test my voice in other registers’. If you’ve heard Nilsson and Callas in this music, Karg might initially seem underpowered. But we are, after all, still in the 18th century. In close collusion with Jonathan Cohen’s crack period band, Karg lives each nuance of the abandoned heroine’s fluctuating emotions, from vengeful outrage to morbid pathos. She burns into the Italian consonants in the recitative, spins a tender legato in the aria’s slow opening section, then flares thrillingly into accusatory fury in the Allegro. Throughout, Karg holds vocal finesse and expressive intensi...

Since 2006 Gli Incogniti is a reference in the early music interpretation. Convinced that one should share what one loves and enjoys, GI performances (live or recording) try to transmit the passion of the music they are executing. Public and critics have recognized with insistence the « pleasure » of its members when shearing their interpretations. Gli Incogniti is interested in repertoire not so much explored achieving premiere recordings of works of N.Matteis, J. Rosenmuller or even A. Vivaldi. They also enjoy more « clasical » works like the recording of the Concerti Grossi of Corelli or the Four Seasons of Vivaldi, both recordings awarded by many international critics (Diapason d’or, Choc de Clasica, Gramophone Editor’s choise, Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik..). Gli Incongiti has performed concerts in Europe, Asia and America, playing in the most prestigious music halls and Festivals in the world (Utrecht, Sablé, Bruge, Theatre de la Ville, Bozar, Haut-Jura, Inssbruck, B...

Though widely renowned for his interpretations of Mozart works, Francesco’s pianism and sensibility has close affinity with the Préludes , which he has included regularly and to great acclaim in recital programmes. Talking about the music, he commented: “[Debussy]’s works challenge the performer in myriad ways: they are technically demanding, but in addition to virtuosic pianism, Debussy requires an equally virtuosic handling of colours, shading and character. In 20th century music, this is not always a matter of course.” In the press, Francesco’s performances of the Préludes have often been mentioned as the evening’s highlights: “his playing took the breath away. He combined the black and white notes of Brouillards to create soft grey tonalities, and went on to dazzle us with a wonderful range of effects in which a flawless technique was put to the service of some very original interpretations” (Michael Church, Independent ), while another review wrote “Francesco Piemo...

On November 13 th  Deutsche Grammophon will release, for the very first time, a recording that Horowitz made for Chicago radio station WFMT in 1986. Vladimir Horowitz was unquestionably one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century. He elevated the art of piano playing to new levels as Liszt had done some 100 years before him.  Horowitz was popular in Chicago – between 1928 and 1986 he played there thirty seven times, having to repeat most of his performances in order to reach as many of his admirers as possible. By 1986 he’d come up with perhaps a better plan: a concert that would be broadcast as a gift to the city of Chicago. It was broadcast locally over Chicago’s premiere classical radio station WFMT. It was broadcast only once more and has not been heard since that time, lying all but forgotten in WFMT’s vaults until producer Jon M. Samuels discovered its existence in October 2013. The recording presents late-period Horowitz, starti...

Following his successful 2012 release of the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 with Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra, Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov tries on the more intimate role of recitalist for this live Decca album of solo piano pieces by Frédéric Chopin. Trifonov is a powerhouse in the Lisztian mold, and his incredible technique seems better suited to fast, flashy fingerwork than to more subdued music. Certain pieces, such as the Rondo in F major, Op. 5, "À la Mazur," the Étude in F major, Op. 10/8, and the Grande Valse Brillante, Op. 18, allow feats of prestidigitation, and there's no denying that he can perform with dazzling virtuosity. However, Chopin should not be played to set land speed records, and Trifonov is required to show greater variety of tempos, dynamics, and expressions in the Andante Spianato and Grande Polonaise Brillante, the set of three Mazurkas, Op. 56, and above all in the Sonata No. 3 in B minor, where more is at stake emotionally...

Two landmark concertos receive sensational performances in Janine Jansen’s latest recording for Decca, set for international release in November 2015. The Dutch violinist, described by The Times as “a player you follow wherever she leads”, presents her profound insights into Johannes Brahms’s monumental Violin Concerto and youthful Béla Bartók’s Violin Concerto No. 1. She recorded the Brahms with the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and the Bartók with the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir Antonio Pappano. Jansen’s past Decca releases have achieved astonishing success in the digital music charts, earning her the title of “Queen of the Download” ( Independent ) and No. 1 positions in the iTunes pop and classical charts. Janine Jansen first performed Brahms’s Violin Concerto with Antonio Pappano in 2012, developing a visionary interpretation of the work over the course of eight concerts. “I remem...

The Weber Sisters is rooted in Mozart’s life story and includes music inspired by Aloysia, Konstanze and Josepha Weber, three soprano sisters whom Mozart first met in the German city of Mannheim in 1777, when he was 21. Though he initially fell in love with Aloysia, who went on to become a celebrated diva, it was Konstanze who became his wife; she outlived him by nearly 50 years and did much to sustain and build his reputation after his death. The programme comprises songs, operatic and concert arias and orchestral numbers, and Sabine Devieilhe’s interpretations are typified by beauty of tone, a penetrating sense of drama and a scrupulous respect for the score and the text. Three of the highlights are: the concert aria ‘Popoli di Tessaglia’ – written for Aloysia – which rises to spectacular heights (specifically, the G two-and-a-half octaves above middle C); the sublime ‘Et incarnatus est’ from the C minor Mass – premiered in Salzburg by Konstanze, and ‘Der Hölle Rache’,...

Born in 1971 Anne Gastinel began playing the cello at the age of four while studying simultaneously the piano and the oboe. She gave her television début at the age of 10 as concert soloist. Five years later Anne Gastinel finished first place at the Music Conservatory in Lyon went on to complete her brilliant studies at the National Music Conservatory in Paris. In 1989, she met Yo Yo Ma, Janos Starker and Paul Tortelier who later became her masters and profoundly marked her personal musical evolution. By the age of 18, Anne Gastinel had performed in over fifty cities throughout Europe, won the 1st prize of the International Competition of Scheveningen and became the first French artist in forty years to reach the finals of the International Competition of Prague. Revealed to the vast public by the 1990 televised Eurovision Tournament in Vienna and shortly thereafter at the Rostropovich Competition in Paris, Anne Gastinel pursued an impressive solo career which took her on annual wor...

Cellist Sol Gabetta has long wanted Pēteris Vasks to compose a concerto for her and on 25 October 2012, Gabetta, in collaboration with the Amsterdam Sinfonietta and its Artistic Director Candida Thompson, presented the new work at last. Klātbūtne (‘Presence’), for cello and string orchestra, was premiered at the music centre De Bijloke in Gent. Latvian composer Vasks stands out among his contemporaries as an especially versatile composer, writing in different timbres and tunings to create hugely varied sound worlds. This can be heard in his eight works for string orchestra and three concertos for violin and strings. Klātbūtne is the first of Vasks’ works for the combination of solo cello and strings, and the three movement work was commissioned by the Amsterdam Sinfonietta, the Amsterdam Cello Biennale, Eduard van Beinum Foundation and the International Istanbul Music Festival. Gabetta and the Amsterdam Sinfonietta gave the German premiere of Klātbūtne on 26 October at...

20 years after her critically acclaimed début at the Salzburg Festival as Susanna In Mozart’s Le Nozze Di Figaro, Dorothea Röschmann releases her first solo Mozart album , including famous arias from Don Giovanni and Le Nozze Di Figaro. Dorothea Röschmann is in the prime of her voice and referred to "as one of the leading Mozart sopranos today“ (Der Tagesspiegel). The CD track list not only reflects her at her glorious best, but is also a dream come true for Dorothea: “Mozart is the reason I wanted to do opera,” she says. “To be able to embody Mozart figures on stage, that was my dream. His characters are real human beings, with sadness and joy and wit. It’s the whole picture that you get. It sounds strange, but signing Mozart really is a dream come true.” (Dorothea Röschmann in interview with the Guardian). The album is recorded with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by their music director Daniel Harding. (Presto Classical)

Natacha was born in Perm in the Urals in 1983.  Her parents, both musicians, encouraged her to play the piano. She studied in Kiev, first at the Lysenko School and then at the Tchaikovsky National Academy of Music.  From 2003 she worked with the pianist Alain Planès at the Conservatoire de Paris and in 2007 she was admitted to the Conservatoire’s advanced course to study with Jacques Rouvier  She continues to work with pianists Ferenc Rados and Elisabeth Leonskaja. Natacha feels ‘very comfortable’ playing French music.   In 2009 she was awarded the Grand Prix by the Safran Foundation for Music and featured on the Génération Spedidam programme. She won first prize at the Vibrarté International Music Competition and the Robert Casadesus Prize for her performance of French music. She is particularly fond of baroque music, of Bach, Rameau and Couperin, and of the romantic repertoire. She has record works by Rameau, Berio and Ravel.  Her CD of suite...

Diego Ares (Vigo 1983) studied piano with Alis Jurgelionis and Aldona Dvarionaitė. He obtained the first prize at Primer Concurso de piano RCN de Vigo when he was only fourteen years old, and also the first prize at the International Piano Contest N. Rubinstein, in Paris, when he was fifteen. He started studying harpsichord in 1998, in Vigo, with Pilar Cancio. When he was eighteen years old he moved to the Netherlands in order to study at the Royal Conservatoir of Den Haag, and also to Amsterdam to study with Richard Egarr. There he would meet Joel Katzman, from whom he received several advices. In those years he received the second prize in harpsichord playing at Concurso Permanente Juventudes Musicales de España. He moved to Switzerland in 2004 to study at Schola Cantorum Basiliensis and follow his studies with Jörg-Andreas Bötticher and Jesper B. Christensen. There he obtained his harpsichord degree in 2007, with the highest honours and congratulations from the board of profess...

The luminous partnership of Alina Ibragimova and Cédric Tiberghien returns to Hyperion for this double album containing Schubert’s complete music for violin and piano. Their intelligence and technical prowess, their seamless and intimate connection as performers and their profound understanding of the music combine in magical performances. While still in his teens, Schubert wrote four works for violin and piano that could have been given the label ‘sonata’, yet none of the four was published with that title. The first three, completed in 1816, bear instead the designation of ‘Sonatina’, perhaps to appeal to the amateur market. But these are highly accomplished works by the teenage composer and there is little ‘domestic’ feeling in the extended, mysterious unravellings of D385 which hint at compositions yet to come. The later Violin Sonata in A major, D574 (now described as a ‘Duo’), urges the violinist on to greater virtuosic feats, and the Rondo in B minor even mo...

Bach's violin concertos boast a recording history of over 80 years. Yehudi Menuhin's classic 1932-6 recordings are still available, superbly remastered, from Naxos. Since then, most distinguished violinists have thrown their hats into the ring with the fastest, leanest, jauntiest … Among these benchmarks, Alina Ibragimova makes a strikingly distinctive contribution, albeit subtle and restrained. In the opening of the A minor BWV1041, she introduces minute expressive emphases and nuances into her solo line, sustaining the hypnotic motoric pulse but relieving it of any relentless 'sewing-machine' quality. In contrast, in the E major's opening movement, her solo line flows uninterrupted by the orchestra quietly working the opening rising notes into their accompaniment. Jonathan Cohen's choice of flute as well as harpsichord among the continuo forces invites another distinctive feature. In slow movements, the lutenist (Thomas Dunford) gently ani...

RCA Victor's The American Album is the most daring and ambitious program undertaken by violinist Anne Akiko Meyers for RCA Victor and features some of the most challenging and invigorating music to be found among her early playing. The showpiece here is Meyers' rendering of Charles Ives' Sonata No. 4 "Children's Day at the Camp Meeting," in which she transits seamlessly from the elementary, student-like playing at the opening through the fierce transcendentalism in the middle section to the whimsical, scherzo-like final movement. Meyers' playing matches Ives' rub-your-head-while-you-pat-your-tummy requirements without losing her sense of line or even tonal beauty. Both of these elements are very much in play in Aaron Copland's Nocturne, an early piece combined in a set of two along with Copland's quaint Ukulele Lullaby, but held out separately here; Meyers exercises supreme poise and control over the whole movement. Her reading of Copland...