Reviews

DISCOVERY OF THE MONTH’ APRIL 2011: I’m indebted to Stephen Sutton of Divine Art for suggesting that I listen to this recording, another of their successful forays into the Baltic states. (See the very different Five-Fifteen recording from Estonia, a wonderful recreation of 1930s dance-band style which I reviewed in November 2010). Humphrey Smith awarded […]

The music is not morbid, on the contrary it is tuneful and uplifting in spirit. It is written in traditional European mode with just a hint of Eastern exoticism and is enjoyable to listen to. The performance and recording is excellent. The presentation is good, and includes the full text of the poems in various languages. The disc also includes two sets of organ variations played by the composer. The disc can be recommended strongly to lovers of church music.

Pierucci’s musical language is conservative and should present no problems to most listeners. Mezzo-soprano Gintare Skeryte has a clean, bright voice… The Aidija chamber choir sing admirably, with a clear clean tone and they are never stretched by Pierucci’s music. The instrumental players give fine support. The first (organ piece)is a set of variations on a theme of the 4th mode Alleluia which has a strikingly Irish folksong-like cast… [The second organ] piece has the complexity, depth and even violence that is lacking from the ‘De Profundis’ and gives us a glimpse of another aspect of Pierucci’s musical personality.

The cantata… is conceived for chamber forces and as such has a lightness of tone rarely heard in works of this ilk. The Alleluia Variations are beautiful, almost folklike, if an organ can be! The recorded sound (of the organ works) is appalling but the first set of variations transcends this because of the quality of the inspiration at work. The performers do the music and its composer full justice and the whole enterprise shines out like a beacon of integrity in the midst of compilation and crossover driven blandout.

I cannot recommend this CD too highly. Few accounts of the fifth symphony are more dramatic…

the performances [were] endorsed by Sibelius. Thus the recordings are considered by many as being definitive. This issue is of astonishingly high quality, with all trace of surface noise removed… This disc is of genuine historical importance. A fascinating release.

extremely well scrubbed-up recordings… merits high praise. Highly listenable recordings. [the performances of the symphonies] are unsentimental yet generate plenty of atmosphere… conspiratorial and sweetly pressured tension. Kajanus’s Tapiola is even more impressive

these are important documents… Kajanus’s interpretation of the Fifth Symphony is an outstanding achievement. The remastering is excellent

worthy of the highest praise:  faultless matching of sides and natural sound, a real pleasure to listen to. So we have a recording on CD which once again indicates the essential cultural role of the disc in the preservation of our most precious musical heritage.

[these recordings] positively sing with the spirit of Finland’s wide open spaces

first rate standards of production and repertoire… astoundingly good quality

Although seventy-five years old, these mono recordings have been digitally remastered to reveal a thrilling  performance of this great dramatic work.

Full marks… Baillie is superb… Parry Jones makes a real impression. Williams is a magnificent colossus of an Elijah. I’d recommend this retrieval with pleasure

moving and dramatic performance…restored with considerable care

Williams is a magnificent prophet… histrionically exciting and technically accomplished. Baillie is as always fresh-toned with pinpoint attack. The well trained choir is vital and dramatic, as is Robinson’s conducting. I am pleased to have had the opportunity to hear this set.

comes up surprisingly cleanly in this … dramatically paced reading.

The new historic label Divine Art places us in its debt with a generally excellent reissue

It is, frankly, good to report on a young pianist who concentrates on pianistic color and still respects the music’s structure. As an alternative method of Chopin interpretation alone, Schliessmann is worth hearing for every pianist and every student of Chopin’s music. Schliessmann regularly finds beauties in these scores others are lucky if they hint at. [In] the C sharp minor Preludehe indeed offers a performance of such exquisite cantabile and such enshrouded pain coupled with luminous textures that one forgets all others while listening. I doubt there is a more beautiful Fourth Ballade on record, nor a more beautifully recorded one. A remarkable set, in many ways.

Burkard Schliessmann gives us impassioned readings, beautifully, poetically realized performances with maximum affective impact yet full command of the notes … in short he gives us near ideal readings, on the warm side of the possibilities, the interpretive side rather than the supercharged virtuoso-centered side. . It is a beautiful set, really rather remarkable. Schliessmann brings to the music a special understanding. Highly recommended.

Displays much of the sensitivity of earlier Chopin specialists such as Ashkenazy, captured here in a surround sound recording that registers every nuance of the piano. German pianist Burkard Schliessmann’s triple SACD set with state of the art sound and luxury packaging chronicles the works of Chopin in order, showing the composer’s development and is thus informative for scholars as well as being an impressive recital.