Volume 23 Issue 3 - November 2017

eleased. A superb pianist equally appreciated
as a soloist as well as half of the
Goldstone and Clemmow Duo, his final
recording, The Piano at the Ballet Volume
II - The French Connection (Divine Art dda
25148) is dedicated to his memory.
Goldstone delighted in transcriptions and
recorded several featuring music from opera
and ballet. This disc is the conclusion of the
latter project and uses French composers as the thematic link. Most
of the pieces are world premiere recordings, transcribed by various
others, although the notes admit that Goldstone made a few improvements
along the way.
Goldstone’s playing at age 72 is simply incredible. Speed, reach,
accuracy and, above all, unerring musicality mark every transcription
he performs. The music tends, understandably, to be extremely
athletic and Goldstone’s level of sustained energy is impressive. The
finales of Poulenc’s Les Biches and Maurice Thiriet’s L’Oeuf à la
coque are fine examples of this. He also captures the grandness of the
orchestral score in these transcriptions. Claude Debussy’s Printemps
(Suite Symphonique) is the best example of this, with its great washes
of sound that conclude the second movement.
Reicha Rediscovered Vol.1 (Chandos
CHAN 10950) is the promising launch
of a series that will see pianist Ivan Ilić
record the largely unheard solo piano
works of a composer better known for his
wind ensemble pieces. A contemporary of
Beethoven, Reicha was highly educated and
musically intelligent. A number of his later
theoretical and philosophical treatises were
translated for major European music circles.
The challenge for Ilić is to find and integrate the unique features of
Reicha’s language into his playing. The modern ear hears Reicha and
understandably recognizes some Haydn, some Mozart and occasional
tempestuous bursts of a young firebrand named Beethoven. But the
new ground Reicha was breaking was harmonic. The disc contains
three pieces from Reicha’s collection titled Practische Beispiele. Ilić
encounters each of the composer’s adventurous modulations and
plays through them with confidence that pianists of Reicha’s day
might well have lacked.
Other tracks include a wonderful set of variations on a theme from
Mozart’s The Magic Flute and a substantial mid-career Grande Sonate
in C Major that reveals a composer struggling to be free of classical
forms. The following volumes by Ilić look promising indeed.
Brazilian pianist Eliane Rodrigues has
recorded the 21 Nocturnes by Chopin on
her newest disc Frédéric Chopin – Notturno
(Navona Records NV6123). The two-disc set
also includes the Ballades No.1 in G Mino,
Op.23 and No.4 in F Minor, Op.52.
Rodrigues teaches at the Royal
Conservatoire in Antwerp, performs
frequently and has more than 25 recordings
in her discography. She traces her Chopin connection to her earliest
years at the keyboard playing the Waltzes and Mazurkas. But her
affection for the Nocturnes is more than wistful nostalgia. A passing
reference in her notes suggests a very deep and personal experience
made the sadness and melancholy of the Nocturnes profoundly meaningful
to her. As if to underscore this, she uses quotations from a fictitious
Chopin diary to capture the mood of each Nocturne.
The playing, however, is the proof of her ownership. Entirely
consistent and sustained throughout both discs, her interpretations
never stray from the beauty and tenderness that Chopin poured into
these pieces. Rodrigues never rushes anything. Arching phrases, ornaments
and grace notes are all critical to completing the composer’s
every utterance, and she gives each one the time it needs to unfold. It’s
an arresting and beautiful performance.
Ketevan Kartvelishvili is a power pianist.
The title of her new recording The Chase –
Liszt, Bartók, Prokofviev (Blue Griffin BGR
437) says it all. Using the title of the final
movement from Bartók’s Out of Doors Sz.81
BB89, Kartvelishvili establishes an ethos for
this remarkable disc by demonstrating her
formidable technique through this relentless
onslaught of musical passion. It’s not
surprising that Bartók used this piece in his rather dark ballet The
Miraculous Mandarin.
Kartvelishvili opens her CD with Liszt’s Mephisto Waltz No.1 S514.
She takes this at a blistering speed without ever losing momentum
or intensity. Her performance of the Liszt Sonata in B Minor S178 is
marvellous. By this point her technical skills are beyond question and
what emerges is the tenderness Liszt requires to withdraw into his
crucial moments of repose. Even at the sonata’s conclusion, those final
measures are powerfully hesitant and highly effective.
Prokofiev’s Sonata No.7 in B Flat Major, Op.83 concludes the disc.
It’s the second of his three “War Sonatas” and is sometimes called
the “Stalingrad.” The outer movements are violent and destructive
and leave no doubt about the work’s origin in 1942 Soviet Russia. The
L/R The WholeNote.com/Listening L/R
Transcendencia
Holly Blazina
The debut album from Flamenco
guitarist, Holly Blazina, features her
original compositions with a traditional
foundation, spiced with modern
harmonies and instrumentation.
Everything is a Translation
Fiil Free
Influences from free jazz, contemporary
classical music and Scandinavian
folk-songs blend together on this
release by seven of the most interesting
improvisers from Northern Europe.
Root Structure
Mike Downes
Mike Downes (JUNO winner 2014)
leads this group of four of Canada’s
top jazz musicians, exploring
lyrical compositions with a deep
underlying structural integrity.
Thoughtful Fun
Heilig Manoeuvre
The Heillig Manoeuvre repertoire is
a songbook. It turns into jazz in the
hands of these four musicians who
share an exceptional rapport!
thewholenote.com November 2017 | 71