Bach: Organ Recital

Advantages: Brilliant, stirring, excitingly unpredictable, fresh performance; "genius" is not hyperbole in Argerich's case.
Disadvantages: Reflecting its LP origins, the CD lasts only 50' 16"!

.... Born in Argentina in 1941, Argerich debuted on the stage at age five, giving recitals in Buenos Aires while receiving lessons from "a despot with sadistic tendencies," as she refers to the Italian maestro, Vincenzo Scaramuzza. Her family moved shortly thereafter to Vienna, so the young pianist could study with the well-known teachers of Europe. There she first came under the tutelage of Friedrich Gulda, a highly respected interpreter of Bach, Mozart and Beethoven, and a classical musician who also delved into jazz. As a child, she was a very reluctant pianist, and tried to avoid practice sessions. As an adult, she has expressed her deep dislike not of *playing the piano*, but of living the life of a concert pianist. She has claimed that her piano practising has never been systematic. In one of her rare interviews, Argerich tells... Read review

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Advantages: Beautiful relaxing music. Rich instrumentation. Played with passion.
Disadvantages: Not all instruments are from the period.

...are best heard (in my opinion) on the period instruments for which they were originally intended. Whilst Menuhin and his Bath Festival orchestra do not entirely use period instruments, the continuo is performed on the harpsichord and Menuhin uses a piccolo violin in the first. Before I go on to say a little about the individual concertos, I think maybe I should just describe what a concerto actually involves. A concerto is a form of music in which a solo instrument or instruments are contrasted with a larger body of instruments. The main body of instruments of the baroque period is the string section and a continuo instrument usually a harpsichord or organ plays the underlying harmony. The usual format for a concerto is three movements (a fast tempo movement followed firstly by a slow movement and then by another fast movement). Bach... Read review

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Advantages: Wonderful transcriptions of JS Bach's majestic music; sensitive, tender, vivacious, effortless and fluid playing.
Disadvantages: Nil.

...Her latest CD from EMI Classics, ‘Bach/Works for Trumpet’, already tops zerbine28's list for Classical CD of the Year. (I know, I know, it's only April as I post this, but that's how strongly I feel about this recording.) Readers, if you please, do welcome young British trumpet player Alison Balsom, who now joins the ranks of Mssrs Miles Davis and Herb Alpert in my teeny-tiny list of favourite trumpeters. No, I never heard of her, either, before yesterday, when I first sampled her CD at the local Borders book and music shop. Released just this past January, the CD is an absolute stunner. The title is a little misleading, because Johann Sebastian Bach never wrote pieces specifically for the instrument (discounting the Brandenburg Concerto No. 2, of course). Besides which, the ‘trumpet’ in Bach’s time... Read review

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