Kaum mehr überblickbar ist die Anzahl junger Pianisten und Violinisten, die...

My first reaction to receiving this release for review was, “Oh no, not another recording of Mendelssohn’s piano trios!” This now makes 22 versions I can lay claim to, at least three or four of which I’ve had occasion to review in these pages. I must cede pride of place, however, to Burton Rothleder who claims to have reviewed no fewer than 10 versions. Of those I have in my collection which he happens to have covered, I find myself in agreement with his conclusions about 90-percent of the time. I was favorably impressed and still am, for example, with the Wanderer Trio’s performances on Harmonia Mundi, and I’ve also found much to enjoy in recordings by the Mendelssohn Piano Trio on Centaur and the Amsterdam Piano Trio on Brilliant Classics. To this list, but reviewed by others, I would add the Florestan Trio on Hyperion and the Nash Ensemble on Onyx. With regard to one recent release, however, Burton and I will have to agree to disagree, and that is the Sony recording with Perlman, Ma, and Ax, which made Rothleder’s 2010 Want List. I found these performances to be sluggish, lumpish, and heavy-handed, their slowness in comparison to others quite easily proved by the timings. For me, they miss Mendelssohn’s quicksilver pulse and puckish humor.

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from the Swiss Piano Trio, an ensemble I’d not previously encountered, though to confess, I did begin my listening with the difficult-to-dislodge idea in my head that Mendelssohn’s piano trios did not need another recording, no matter how good it might be. Imagine then my shock to have all of my doubts and reservations instantly swept away by the most captivating performances of these works I think I’ve ever heard.

Swift in tempo and fleet of foot, but not rushed or breathless; leggiero in bowing and phrasing, but not lightweight or thin in tone; rascally but not roguish in the Scherzo movements; emotionally expressive but not cloying in the Andantes; and strongly persuasive without making over-earnest pie of Mendelssohn’s opening Allegros, the Swiss ensemble plays these works with surpassing elegance, beauty, and absolute technical control and perfection.

In no small measure, this gorgeously recorded hybrid surround-sound Audite SACD is a glory to modern recording technology. The instruments are perfectly placed and perfectly balanced, and the sound is state-of-the-art. I’m not usually one to say, “Throw out all other recordings you have of these works,” but if I were so inclined, this new release would come perilously close to prompting me to say it. These magnificently recorded fantastic performances are urgently recommended.

Difficile de résumer la musique de Mendelssohn, autant héritier de la...

Few countries have shaped the experience of Christmas more decisively than Germany and, with one exception, the remainder of these discs are from German labels and ensembles. A highly enjoyable and off-the-beaten-track pair comes from the label Audite, whose releases are commonly issued in Super Audio format. The all-organ recital by Johannes Strobl on the great organ of the Abbey of Muri consists of music by l8th- and 19th-century South German, Austrian and Bohemian composers of whom I'd never heard. These preludes, pastorellas, pifas and the like, undemanding and undemonstrative as they are, make for instructive listening: the common emphasis on rocking cradle rhythms is a sufficient programme in itself. And let's be honest: no century has, more than the 18th, been confined to such a restricted pantheon of composing figures. It makes a change from Bach ... on which, however, more presently. The second disc, "Es ist ein Ros' entsprungen", fearures the organist Stefan Horz and the vocal ensemble Vox Bona in a wide-ranging programme centred on the famous tune. The choral items, composed in an accessible, modern style, are a mixed bag, but as an enterprising move away from the same old Christmas programming both discs together give a positive, coherent impression of the label's aims.

This is a rich harvest. Richard Franck (1858-1938) came from a distinguished...

The Audite label is busy reviving the music of Eduard and Richard Franck. In the...

Heinrich von Herzogenberg fu amico di Johannes Brahms (che era più vecchio di...

These discs provide an interesting contrast of playing styles. Kynaston plays the large late 18th-century organ in Amorbach Abbey, with a more recent fourth manual by Klais. Winters plays a new organ in early 18th-century Thuringian style, while Neu plays a new organ by Hendrik Ahrend.

Kynaston's recording is reissued from 1994, a fine sound if sometimes lacking in clarity. This is recognisably English playing, and none the worse for that, with a Passacaglia & Fugue starting quietly and with lots of stop changes. Indeed the impression of the disc as a whole is of someone used to using a sequencer! He is at his best musically, and with less fussy registration, in the C minor Fantasia & Fugue (BWV 537) which is given a fine performance. A worthwhile curiosity is Reger's arrangement of Bach's harpsichord Chromatic Fantasia & Fugue, using the full resources of this organ to great effect.

Winters is more period-style conscious, but often in a highly mannered and sometimes rhythmically disorganised way. The organ sounds gorgeous, but apart from one chorale prelude and the principal choruses of the preludes and fugues his registrations never get beyond 8ft and 4ft, leaving one wishing for more colour. The Vivaldi-Bach D minor Concerto is perhaps the most satisfying work here, and unlike Kynaston Winters uses exactly the registrations Bach asks for in the short opening section. Unfortunately the idiosyncrasies of his playing rule out a recommendation.

Neu is playing the smallest organ, but conjures the greatest range of colour – often ravishingly beautiful. Hendrik has learned his craft well from his father Jürgen. Here we have not just Bach, but also Buxtehude and Böhm, and two chorale partitas of the latter provide a feast of organ sounds. His playing is stylistically aware, sensitive to the individual works, and the programme is thoroughly enjoyable and strongly recommended.

Fricsay trat bereits mit sechs Jahren in die Budapester Musikhochschule ein, die...

Im Jahre 1990 erschienen unter dem Titel "Hádanka Života" (Die Rätsel des...