[...] Ci wytrawni muzycy wspólnie stworzyli perfekcyjną interpretację, po którą warto sięgnąć. Po raz kolejny produkcja Audite może zaspokoić nawet najbardziej wymagajacego melomana.

In seinen späten Orgelsymphonien verdichtet Louis Vierne das Tonmaterial zusehends mit verwegenen Harmonien und Klangfolgen, die an die Grenzen der Tonalität stoßen. Hans-Eberhard Roß gelingt es, dieses komplexe Geflecht von sich auflösenden Harmonien und chromatischem Gewebe musikalisch zu durchdringen, es feinfühlig zu strukturieren, ohne, dass die Musik zerfasert und in ihre Elementarteilchen zerfällt.

Sensitive and transparent performances, well structured, so that the overall architecture can be totally experienced.

Dagli archivi della Radio Svizzera (SRF) proviene un’edizione in tedesco del...

These are light and airy performances, with Oren Shevlin a poignant and intensely lyrical soloist in the Cello Concerto, while Holliger's pacing of the Fourth Symphony feels entirely natural.

In an era full of superb lyric sopranos, Spain's Pilar Lorengar (1928-1996) stood out. She was special not only for the breadth of her repertoire, radiant beauty and gracious stage presence but also her unerring musicality and, above all, her unmistakable, utterly personal sound.

Depending on what recordings you listen to, your response to Lorengar depends to a great extent on your feelings regarding the degree of vibrato in a voice. It was, in fact, what put me off much of what Lorengar recorded in many of her best-known discs. Happily, though, in Audite's set (performances dating from 1959-62 by a singer still in her early thirties, after only a few years of stardom), not one of the 60 tracks is compromised by excessive vibrato. In these recordings, Lorengar's sound is not merely clear – it gleams (especially at the top, always Lorengar's greatest strength). Her singing invariably accentuates sincerity and femininity, with no reaching for effect. One warms to Lorengar's expressiveness immediately, and her appeal throughout the set remains irresistible.

Some surprises occur in the operatic material, which includes a few arias from roles not associated with Lorengar. One of those is Norma, whose 'Casta diva' begins the set. The RIAS Kammerchor sounds unexpectedly amateurish, and the Berlin Radio Symphony is conducted funereally by Arthur Rother. Lorengar, however, rises above all that, with fresh, shining sound, always sensitively used. The arias proceed with splendid performances of more suitable repertoire: Liu's 'Signore, ascolta!', with the Puccini style instinctively right and the characterization most touching; and Cleopatra's 'Piangero la sorte mia', where the thick, heavy orchestral contribution does not hinder emotion communicated through eloquent directness of address.

Excepting a cabaletta-Iess 'Ernani, involami' (another odd choice, lacking the necessary expansiveness), the other arias are treasurable. Among them are 'Un bel di' (perfection on the opening soft attack, missing only a bit more interpretative detail later); 'Mi chiamano Mimi' (utterly natural in delivery, with elegant portamento); 'Le Violette' from Scarlatti's Pirro e Demetrio (the essence of charm); and 'Ach, ich fühl's' (Pamina's misery emerges through expert control of the leaps and long phrases). Lorengar was a Donna Elvira, not a Donna Anna, but the latter's 'Non mi dir', although not as magisterial as some, shows no fear in the awkward tessitura of the first section or the tricky coloratura of the second. Violetta's scena has all the heart one could desire and absolute security throughout. Best of all is 'La Maja y el Ruisenor' from Granados's Goyescas; even if Montserrat Caballé's unearthly pianissimo and Victoria de los Angeles's plum-luscious richness don't figure in Lorengar's performance, she lets go gloriously above the stave when needed, and one can appreciate the unaffected sweetness that was entirely her own.

The other two discs recall a time not very long ago when a generation of Spanish divas – Lorengar, Caballé and Teresa Berganza – all felt a passionate compulsion to follow the example of their immediate predecessor, de los Angeles, by excelling in their native song literature. One cannot choose between these four singers, for all have something unforgettable to offer. Lorengar, like the others, thoroughly understands the value of simplicity of expression, and she haunts the listener with an innate sense of melancholy.

Rodrigo's four 'amorous madrigals' – sung here with orchestra – are beautifully done, with Lorengar's gaiety in the third of these being particularly delectable. She also responds strongly to the quintessentially Spanish rhythms and melisma of the final song of this group. Two Nin pieces (with Hertha Klust, one of the singer's early mentors, giving firm support at the piano) are done with Lorengar's usual charm.

The discs then move into material by lesser-known twentieth-century Spanish composers, Leoz and Guridi. The final three of the latter's Seis Canciones castellanas reveal a richness in the middle range seldom heard from Lorengar, and the sheer buoyancy of the third song makes it one of the gems of Audite's set. Few can match Caballé in Granados's Tonadillas, but Lorengar has a special way with these wonderful pieces, three of which are heard here. One especially relishes the knowingness of 'El Majo discreto', while another jewel of a song, 'El tra la la y el punteado', bursts with the confidence of the girl who knows that a certain young man will soon be hers. Three of Toldrà's Seis Canciones are finely done, with the warmth of 'Después que te conoci' making an especially fine impression.

Singing 11 Renaissance songs (with Siegfried Behrend's skilful guitar accompaniment aptly substituting for a vihuela), Lorengar is plaintive and intimate where required. She proves even more bewitching with the sunnier numbers – for example, 'De los álamos vengo', where the light voice seems to belong to a girl barely a day over 15.

The second disc ends with five Verdi songs. Lorengar is the ebullient gypsy to the life in 'La zingara', aptly soulful in 'Ad una stella' (decidedly second-drawer Verdi), delightful as the pert lover in Stornello and the liveliest of chimney-sweeps in 'Lo spazzacamino'. Greater variety of colour and dynamic is needed in 'Perduta ho la pace', Verdi's setting of the text we know better as 'Gretchen am Spinnrade'.

On the third disc Lorengar is rather too closely recorded for Bellini's Dolente immagine di Figlia mia, but this lament – again with Behrend's guitar finds her entirely comfortable in what is, in effect, mezzosoprano tessitura. Her purity of tone enhances four Mozart songs, of which the finest is a ravishing Ridente la calma. A real rarity, Handel's cantata of 1707 Nò se emendará jamás, with Richard Klemm's viola da gamba joining Lorengar and Behrend, gives one further evidence (following the Giulio Cesare aria on the first disc) for regret that this composer did not figure more prominently in Lorengar's career.

The set ends with nine of the Old Spanish Songs and Romances collected by Federico Garcia Lorca (Behrend is once again a strong partner). Like the Renaissance material, they are best listened to a few at a time – I'd say the same thing of anyone singing them but individually they can be savoured for Lorengar's superb breath control. In several of these songs more smoulderingly seductive tone can be heard from the marvellous Berganza, but Lorengar is often even more vivid in her textual delivery. Her infectious joy in singing gives immense pleasure in 'Las reyes de la baraja', one of the set's major highlights.

Audite's booklet offers an essay providing not only details of Lorengar's career but also much-needed information on some of the more obscure material heard here. Texts are available on Audite's website.

Given the significant gaps in Lorengar's commercial discography, this set can be warmly welcomed by all who cherish the memory of this captivating artist, still greatly missed.

The rise of the piano in America lags only slightly behind its hegemony in Europe. Its origins are often traced to Alexander Reinagle of Portsmouth, who settled in Philadelphia and whose four surviving sonatas, composed around 1790, are generally considered the first important piano music written on the continent. Long and rich though the tradition may be, Americans seldom hear their piano music, save for a few obvious pieces, played by Europeans. Exceptions, such as Leon McCawley's espousal of Samuel Barber, only prove the rule.

Ulrich Roman Murtfeld began his piano studies at the Hoch Conservatory in his native Frankfurt am Main. Perhaps fatefully for his future musical interests, he was a student at the prestigious Philips Academy, a boarding preparatory school in Andover, Massachusetts, not far from Boston. Throughout his advanced training back in Europe and a career with an important emphasis on new music, Murtfeld apparently never lost his sympathy and enthusiasm for the American piano tradition. His choice of 12 representative pieces, ranging from the 1850s through the late twentieth century, demonstrates a long-standing artistic commitment and rare understanding.

Murtfeld begins the recital appropriately with Louis Moreau Gottschalk, who returned to the United States in 1853 as the first American musician to attain a European reputation. The Gottschalk group is bracketed with two extrovert virtuoso pieces, the exquisitely realized Pasquinade and Le Banjo. Both are played with enormous vitality and élan, recalling that the Paris critics often compared Gottschalk to Alkan.

More remarkable, however, are Murtfeld's interpretations of three meditative pieces, Ricordati, Berceuse and the most popular of Gottschalk's works during his lifetime, The Last Hope. They represent a vein of Gottschalk's oeuvre that nowadays seems to embarrass the few American pianists who play him. Part of the reason is that Gottschalk's particular type of pure sentimentality, not unlike Stephen Foster's, became almost grotesquely maudlin in the hands of his successors as the century wore on. Murtfeld's astonishing success in these pieces is his ability to meet them on their own terms, without prejudice. They sound uncluttered and fresh, with their original charm restored. Elaborately decorative fioriture is given scrupulous attention, but a beautifully unabashed cantabile, spun out with great skill, never leaves centre stage.

Suave New York sophistication emanates from this reading of the ubiquitous Gershwin Preludes. Their pianistic sheen may sound too refined or their rhythmic emphases a little tame, but the proud peacock display of Gershwin's saucy harmonics is more than ample compensation. Murtfeld's grasp of the mature East Coast minimalism of Philip Glass seems second nature. The opening piece of the 1981 Glassworks is imbued with the perfect atmosphere, all the more enigmatic for its simplicity. Frederic Rzewski, that latter-day representative of the nearly extinct species of virtuoso pianist-composers, is represented by the last of his Piano Pieces from 1977. This nine-minute study in rhythmic repetition moves through a kaleidoscope of constantly shifting colours and mood. In terms of piano playing, the aura of shimmering beauty created by means of a seemingly infinite variety of touch is the disc's summit achievement. It speaks to Murtfeld' s stylistic discernment that, following Glass and Rzewski, Barber's 1959 Nocturne and the perennial Sonata of a decade earlier seem less a backward glance than a window onto another culture, if not another world.

Murtfeld is a pianist to reckon with. He has a point of view and a vivid imagination. His playing is both a pleasure to listen to and (speaking as an American) downright refreshing. Heartily recommended.

These superb live performances further document the near half-century-long association of the Lucerne Festival and the late Claudio Abbado, who conducts two stellar orchestras with which he frequently collaborated. There are some 28 recordings of the Schubert 'Unfinished' Symphony by the Vienna Philharmonic available. However, as far as I've been able to determine, this is the only time the VPO recorded the piece under Abbado. His complete Schubert Symphony cycle was a collaboration with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the group he helped found and which he conducts here in the Beethoven Second Symphony and Siegfried Idyll. This is the fifth recording in a series called 'Lucerne Festival Historic Performances' that presents remastered recordings originally made for broadcast by SWR, Swiss Radio and Television. The Vienna Philharmonic Schubert was recorded in September 1978 and the COE Beethoven and Wagner in August 1988. Despite the performances' vintage, the recorded sound will probably satisfy discriminating listeners.

As unlikely as it might seem to describe any interpretation of the 'Unfinished' as startlingly original, that is the inescapable impression left by this performance. The gripping intensity of the first movement is tempered by a lithe grace. Divested of weighty stolidity, the music gains credibility as the creation of a young man portraying an epic confrontation. Schubert's dissonances, often lost in the fulsome thickness of string sound, here emerge as sharp and painful. If there is anything to be regretted, it is that the exposition was not repeated. The Andante is often interpreted as an antidote to the scathing conflicts and tensions unearthed in the first movement. Not so here. The dramatic impetus of the Allegro moderato, in some ineffably sublimated form, is extended, telescoped, even compounded into the farthest reaches of the slow movement, which seems to speak of cosmic loneliness. Meanwhile, it is blessed by the Vienna winds, for theirs is the sound most nearly approaching perfection. This performance alone is easily worth the price of the disc.

In the wake of the tragically inflected 'Unfinished', the robust and buoyant D major Beethoven of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe comes as a shift to sunny skies and sweet breezes. After the ample, spacious introduction, the Allegro con brio fairly bristles with energy, each perfectly calculated sforzando contributing to a palpable joy in unified precision of execution. Bucolic vistas and subtle intrigues in the Larghetto are described with refined brushwork, using a delicately blended palette. A scherzo more witty than raucous provides the swift transition to the finale, lithe, athletic and brimming with detail, that is the summation and fulfilment of all that has gone before. This performance could serve as a paradigm of the symphonic ideal, bequeathed by Haydn and Mozart, to be exalted by Beethoven.

This Siegfried Idyll is a Wagnerian canvas with the varnish of pretence and excess painstakingly removed. What remains is unalloyed ardour, simply expressed with disarming directness. This interpretation combines dappled colours with a round, gentle ripeness that is likely to render all but a handful of others drab by comparison.

In seiner Gesamtaufnahme von Edward Griegs symphonischem Werk kommt Eivind Aadland nicht an der viel und nicht zuletzt vom Komponisten selber geschmähten Symphonie vorbei. Aadlands motiviertes Dirigieren kann die uncharakteristische Musik nicht ins Positive wenden: Das Werk zieht vorbei und hinterlässt kaum Spuren.

Im Klavierkonzert geht der Dirigent recht sachlich mit der Musik um und arbeitet zusammen mit Herbert Schuch ein Maximum an Nuancen und Kontrasten im Grieg-Konzert heraus. Das führt zu einer lebendigen Darstellung, in der kraftvolle Bravour und poetische Lyrik mit klarem Kopf platziert und dosiert werden.

Lively and stylish performances in a very natural sound. However, even in such a good interpretation, Grieg’s Symphony remains a rather uncharacteristic and unsatisfying work.

Technische Perfektion? Selbstverständlich. Gestaltungskompetenz? Unbestritten. Besonders ohrenfällig: die Durchsichtigkeit des Stimmengeflechts. [...] Die jüngsten Einspielungen dürften auf lange Sicht den Rang von Referenzaufnahmen haben.

Technische Perfektion? Selbstverständlich. Gestaltungskompetenz? Unbestritten. Besonders ohrenfällig: die Durchsichtigkeit des Stimmengeflechts. [...] Die jüngsten Einspielungen dürften auf lange Sicht den Rang von Referenzaufnahmen haben.