The world’s foremost exponent of the guitar, John Williams, is featured here in some of his earliest recordings, where he strums effortlessly, Suites by Bach, a tiny Gavotte by Scarlatti (senior) and a transcription of a keyboard sonata by Scarlatti (junior).
The ubiquitous Pachelbel Canon starts off this delightful collection of Baroque favourites. Three virtual one-hit wonders – Pachelbel, Albinoni, Boccherini – meet Mozart’s dad, the reputedly sour-puss Leopold, who here, takes off his wig and summons a collection of toys to partake in the Haydn-attributed ‘Toy Symphony’.
Wilhelm Kempff’s credentials as an organist and composer lend a naturalness and flexibility to these performances of some of Bach’s best known Preludes and Fugues. There is also the very forward-looking, almost improvisatory piece of program music – the ‘Capriccio’ and a wonderful performance of the great ‘D major Toccata and Fugue’.
Long unavailable, these classic 1960s recordings of a trio of Bach cantatas have been restored to circulation, now at super-budget price. Here’s what two Amazon.com ‘surfer’s had to say about these recordings: ‘I have every reason in the world to be grateful for having encountered this wonderful CD over ten years ago now when I […]
Not all of Bach’s Cantatas were written for Sunday service. Here is a pair of humorous offerings performed with great charisma by the husband-wife duo of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Julia Varady.
Purists might squirm but purists should think again. As Raymond Tuttle says in his background notes to this unique release, ‘When purists complain about Bach played on the piano, they also need to be reminded that, as these five concertos were not written for the keyboard in the first place, one might argue that any […]
For their 1989 festival, the committee of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir invited Dame Kiri Te Kanawa to join the Choir and the Utah Symphony Orchestra under maestro Julius Rudel. The choice of repertoire remained open and Dame Kiri selected a highly appropriate program of inspirational works that she could share with the choir and its […]
Christmas in Leipzig, 1723 Advent was a time of penitence in the Lutheran as in other Christian traditions. In Leipzig, the first Sunday in Advent was treated with some pomp as the beginning of the church year, and the service included a cantata. But on the other three Sundays, music was simple and the only […]
Being born in Romania and surrounded from childhood by folk melodies and fiery popular dance music certainly helps in forming an inspired musician, provided the talent is there. In the case of the exceptionally gifted Gheorghe Zamfir, who was born to a family of vine-growers in 1941 in Gaiesti near Bucharest, these fortunate circumstances led […]
Angela Hewitt – a familiar visitor to Australia and a highly represented recording artist (she has recorded the complete Bach keyboard works for Hyperion) – made this, an early recording, for Deutsche Grammophon upon winning the 1985 Toronto International Bach Piano Competition. They are natural, unforced and beautifully-turned performances of some of Bach’s most popular […]
Britten’s stately and clear-sighted readings of Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos begin a program that continues with a group of rarities. Much requested and finally available on CD, is the complete 1953 Opening Concert of the Aldeburgh Festival in which Britten and Imogen Holst shared the conducting honours. In addition to the anthems (in which the soloists […]
Kempff’s Baroque pedigree stemmed from the influence of his father also named Wilhelm Kempff and his grandfather Cantor Friedrick Kempff. Both were organists who taught the budding prodigy much of the organ’s core repertoire. In fact, Kempff’s youthful debut as an organist took place before his first recital as a pianist in 1907. With help […]
