Arrangements from the Second Viennese School

Advantages: Wide range of little-know music played live by world-class pianists
Disadvantages: None for those who enjoy classical Piano Solo music

...plays two transcriptions for piano of orchestral works by the English composer Frederick Delius. Lane plays these in a beautiful gentle manner, with shimmering sounds, aptly portraying on the piano the "English Debussy" as Delius has sometimes been called. Franz Vorraber Franz Vorraber plays Soiree de Vienne by Alfred Grunfeld. Grunfeld is known for his arrangements for piano of waltzes by Johann Strauss. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century there was a tradition of making virtuoso arrangements of Strauss walzes for piano solo. Godowsky, whose music is heard on this CD (but not any of his Strauss arrangements) wrote some extremely elaborate Strauss paraphrases. Grunfeld's arrangements are generally less elaborate, but still often quite virtuoso. This arrangement is based on waltzes from Die Fledermaus (The Bat... Read review

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Advantages: One to tick off on your list
Disadvantages: Not got much of a tune to it! (but that's the point)

...a good idea'. KONTAKT lasts approximately twenty five minutes, and is about as brutal an assault on the auditory senses as one is as likely to encounter! I suspect there were few people in the audience who would have been able to tell when the piece ended, except perhaps when the house lights went up! I've heard Stockhausen's work compared to the sound of a grand piano being thrown down a flight of stairs; I would suggest this was grossly unfair - to pianos! The man's legacy is truly tremendous - many musicians in the avant-garde claim him to be a major influence, these include Pink Floyd, Bjork, Aphex Twin, and he was admired by the Beatles. There's a definite continuity from the Second Viennese school (Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg, Anton Webern et all) and Stickhausen, and in turn, he provides the link to experimental work... Read review

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Advantages: Some less often heard pieces by Robert Stolz
Disadvantages: Insensitive conducting which swamps singers

...Having lived and worked in Vienna for several years, I\'ve always had a big soft spot for operetta, waltzes and Viennese music in general. Done well it can be as satisfyingly enjoyable to listen to as drinking a mug of my favourite Austrian Kaffeehaus speciality - \"heisse Schokolade\" (hot chocolate) topped with a big dollop of perfectly whipped cream... Unfortunately, listening to this CD - which is with the BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by Iain Sutherland and the two vocal soloists Julia Migenes and Sebastian Reinthaller - is like forcing yourself to drink thin watery cheap cocoa with nasty sludgey powdery lumpy bits lurking in the bottom. It isn\'t good at all, I\'m afraid. Robert Stolz lived from 1880 to 1975 and really continued the Viennese style of operetta and light orchestral music that had been so successfully developed... Read review

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