Browse the latest Classical Ear reviews

Mon 18 Jun, 2018:
Bach: Goldberg Variations

Those familiar with Peter Hill’s accounts of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier and French Suites on Delphian will need no encouragement to explore his...

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Wed 13 Jun, 2018:
Scarlatti: Keyboard Sonatas, Volume 1

“Sonatas Volume 1” says Chandos. And 20 of the 555 originally written for harpsichord were first exposed on record by Wanda Landowska in 1935. Two...

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Fri 08 Jun, 2018:
Beethoven: Piano Concertos – No 2 in B flat major, Op 19; No 4 in G major, Op 58

Lars Vogt’s Beethoven Piano Concerto cycle concludes with sterling accounts of the Mozart-accented Second and impromptu-infused Fourth, the pianist...

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Wed 30 May, 2018:
Calen-O – Songs from the North of Ireland by Howard Ferguson, Hamilton Harty, Joan Trimble and Charles Wood

There’s no mistaking Carolyn Dobbin’s committed advocacy in this collection of songs from her native Northern Ireland. With ever-adroit...

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Mon 30 Apr, 2018:
Toby Young: The Art of Dancing (suite for trumpet, piano and strings); Geoffrey Gordon: Saint Blue (double concerto for trumpet, piano and strings, after Kandinsky); Deborah Pritchard: Seven Halts on the Somme (for solo trumpet in C, harp and string orchestra); Nimrod Borenstein: Concerto for piano, trumpet and string orchestra, Op 74

Geoffrey Gordon’s Saint Blue, inspired by two Kandinsky paintings ('All Saints 1' and 'In Blue', well worth a web search), is by far the best work...

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Thu 26 Apr, 2018:
Gál: Piano Quartet in B flat major, Op 13; Three Sonatinas for violin and piano, Op 71; Sonatina in F major (1934)

Toccata Classics' third volume devoted to Hans Gál's chamber music launches in propitious style with the substantial Piano Quartet in B flat major...

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Thu 19 Apr, 2018:
Beethoven: Piano Sonatas – No 14 in C sharp minor, Op 27 No 2 (Moonlight); No 29 in B flat major, Op 106 (Hammerklavier)

Turn to the pensive limpidity of the Hammerklavier’s Adagio or the seething turbulence of the Moonlight’s finale for the measure of the quality of...

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Thu 12 Apr, 2018:
Beethoven: Violin Sonatas – No 4 in A minor, Op 23; No 5 in F major, Op 24 (Spring); No 7 in C minor, Op 30 No 2

Joseph Kerman believed that for Beethoven, the violin sonata was “never a very solemn form”. But it could be a passionate one, the forthright...

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Thu 29 Mar, 2018:
A Map of the Kingdom of Ireland – Electro-acoustic music by 13 Irish composers

A companion to 2013’s On the Nature of Electricity & Acoustics, the beautifully packaged A Map of the Kingdom of Ireland brings Dublin-based Heresy...

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Mon 19 Mar, 2018:
Chopin Evocations – Chopin: Piano Concertos Nos 1 & 2 (orchestrated by Mikhail Pletnev); Variations on ‘La ci darem la mano’; Rondo for 2 pianos; Impromptu No 4; Schumann: ‘Chopin’ (No 12 from ‘Carnaval’); Grieg: ‘Homage à Chopin’; Barber: Nocturne; Tchaikovsky: ‘Un poco di Chopin’; Mompou: Variations on a theme by Chopin

It’s Daniil Trifonov and Mikhail Pletnev. Reactions could vary from apprehension to dismay. Comfort zones may be seriously disturbed. Pletnev’s...

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Mon 26 Feb, 2018:
Bach: Keyboard Concertos – No 1 in D minor, BWV 1052; No 2 in E major, BWV 1053; No 3 in D major, BWV 1054; 4 in A major, BWV 1055; 5 in F minor, BWV 1056; 7 in G minor, BWV 1058; Italian Concerto in F major, BWV 971

The young South Korean Sonya Bach makes an uneven debut on disc in the company of her illustrious namesake, JS Bach. She’s clearly an able pianist...

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Mon 29 Jan, 2018:
Four Composers – Four Pieces – Four Hands: Works by Schubert, Chopin, Liszt & Stravinsky

What an interesting and, in the auditioning, persuasive idea – to play four great piano works on different instruments, each contemporary to the...

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Fri 15 Dec, 2017:
Scriabin: Symphony No 2 in C minor, Op 29; Piano Concerto in F sharp minor, Op 20

Thrilling orchestral playing from the Oslo Philharmonic under its dynamic Russian chief – gloriously articulate, finely nuanced and keenly...

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Tue 12 Dec, 2017:
Hahn: Belle Époque – Le ruban denoué (Deux Valses à deux pianos); Pour bercer un convalescent; Caprice mélancolique pour deux pianos; Scherzo lent pour deux pianos; Pièce en forme d’aria er bergerie; Berceuses pour piano à quatre mains; Variations puériles pour piano à quatre mains sur une mélodie de Carl Reinecke; Trois Préludes pour piano à quatre mains sur des airs populaires Irlandais; Variations pour piano à quatre mains sur un theme de Charles Levadé

With form in resurrecting neglected French repertoire, the enterprising Australian label Melba has struck gold again in this beautifully played survey...

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Search Results for: "piano"

Mon 18 Jun, 2018:
Bach: Goldberg Variations

Those familiar with Peter Hill’s accounts of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier and French Suites on Delphian will need no encouragement to explore his...

Wed 13 Jun, 2018:
Scarlatti: Keyboard Sonatas, Volume 1

“Sonatas Volume 1” says Chandos. And 20 of the 555 originally written for harpsichord were first exposed on record by Wanda Landowska in 1935. Two...

Fri 08 Jun, 2018:
Beethoven: Piano Concertos – No 2 in B flat major, Op 19; No 4 in G major, Op 58

Lars Vogt’s Beethoven Piano Concerto cycle concludes with sterling accounts of the Mozart-accented Second and impromptu-infused Fourth, the pianist...

Wed 30 May, 2018:
Calen-O – Songs from the North of Ireland by Howard Ferguson, Hamilton Harty, Joan Trimble and Charles Wood

There’s no mistaking Carolyn Dobbin’s committed advocacy in this collection of songs from her native Northern Ireland. With ever-adroit...

Geoffrey Gordon’s Saint Blue, inspired by two Kandinsky paintings ('All Saints 1' and 'In Blue', well worth a web search), is by far the best work...

Thu 26 Apr, 2018:
Gál: Piano Quartet in B flat major, Op 13; Three Sonatinas for violin and piano, Op 71; Sonatina in F major (1934)

Toccata Classics' third volume devoted to Hans Gál's chamber music launches in propitious style with the substantial Piano Quartet in B flat major...

Thu 19 Apr, 2018:
Beethoven: Piano Sonatas – No 14 in C sharp minor, Op 27 No 2 (Moonlight); No 29 in B flat major, Op 106 (Hammerklavier)

Turn to the pensive limpidity of the Hammerklavier’s Adagio or the seething turbulence of the Moonlight’s finale for the measure of the quality of...

Thu 12 Apr, 2018:
Beethoven: Violin Sonatas – No 4 in A minor, Op 23; No 5 in F major, Op 24 (Spring); No 7 in C minor, Op 30 No 2

Joseph Kerman believed that for Beethoven, the violin sonata was “never a very solemn form”. But it could be a passionate one, the forthright...

Thu 29 Mar, 2018:
A Map of the Kingdom of Ireland – Electro-acoustic music by 13 Irish composers

A companion to 2013’s On the Nature of Electricity & Acoustics, the beautifully packaged A Map of the Kingdom of Ireland brings Dublin-based Heresy...

It’s Daniil Trifonov and Mikhail Pletnev. Reactions could vary from apprehension to dismay. Comfort zones may be seriously disturbed. Pletnev’s...

Mon 26 Feb, 2018:
Bach: Keyboard Concertos – No 1 in D minor, BWV 1052; No 2 in E major, BWV 1053; No 3 in D major, BWV 1054; 4 in A major, BWV 1055; 5 in F minor, BWV 1056; 7 in G minor, BWV 1058; Italian Concerto in F major, BWV 971

The young South Korean Sonya Bach makes an uneven debut on disc in the company of her illustrious namesake, JS Bach. She’s clearly an able pianist...

Mon 29 Jan, 2018:
Four Composers – Four Pieces – Four Hands: Works by Schubert, Chopin, Liszt & Stravinsky

What an interesting and, in the auditioning, persuasive idea – to play four great piano works on different instruments, each contemporary to the...

Fri 15 Dec, 2017:
Scriabin: Symphony No 2 in C minor, Op 29; Piano Concerto in F sharp minor, Op 20

Thrilling orchestral playing from the Oslo Philharmonic under its dynamic Russian chief – gloriously articulate, finely nuanced and keenly...

With form in resurrecting neglected French repertoire, the enterprising Australian label Melba has struck gold again in this beautifully played survey...

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