Die vier Herren aus Cremona erweisen mit ihrer Neueinspielung Reverenz an ihre alten Kollegen. Cristiano Gualco gelingt auf seiner Amati aus 1640 genau dieser expressive gesangliche Ton, dessen unter die Haut gehende Schönheit auch den späten Beethoven wunderbar hörbar macht. [...] Die musikalischen Bälle werden einander traumwandlerisch sicher zugeworfen, das eruptiv spontane Musizieren ist voller Innenspannung, Aufbäumen und Hinsinken. Meisterlich!

Das Violinkonzert von Dvorak sowie die Violinsonaten von Bach (g-moll) und Händel (A-Dur) klingen frisch und mit einer sehr unsentimentalen Wärme. Ravels „Berceuse sur le nom de Gabriel Fauré“ rundet den musikalischen Leckerbissen wie ein vorzügliches Dessert ab

Allein dieser Live-Mitschnitt ist Grund genug, sich an dieser CD zu erfreuen. Dvoraks Cello-Konzert in h-moll (mit Istvan Kertesz) und Saint-Saens‘ Cello-Konzert Nr. 1 in a-moll (mit Jean Martinon) lassen darüber hinaus die ganze elegante Meisterschaft Fourniers erklingen

Artystka jasnością i młodzieńczym brzmieniem swego głosu fascynowała publiczność i krytyków.

At first glance the principal attraction in a two-disc set devoted to the art of violinist Johanna Martzy (1924-79) appears to duplicate a recording already available from DG. Martzy's expressively projected account of Dvorak's Violin Concerto from June 1953 recently reappeared in DG's 'Ferenc Fricsay: The Complete Recordings on Deutsche Grammophon, Vol1' (10/14). But a few days earlier a recording of the same work with the same soloists, orchestra and conductor, was made for the RIAS archive at the same Jesus-Christus-Kirche venue. On both, the RIAS Symphony Orchestra under Fricsay offers a detailed and musically sympathetic account of the orchestral score, but the fact that two producers are involved means that the two sound-frames are quite unalike, the RIAS production mellower, more transparent and with a more integrated solo image. DG's relatively up-front recording has a harder edge, Martzy herself is marginally more spot-lit, while her performance, at least in the finale, is a little less genial.

The remainder of Audite's set emanates from the 1960s. Dvorak's Concerto is tailed by a vibrant account of Brahms's First Sonata, and Martzy's sound is darker than in the orchestral work, with an Oistrakh-like radiance about it, especially in the first movement. The second CD opens with solo Bach, the G minor Sonata, and a reading that's notable for its rigour and the rhythmic security of the second movement fugue. Sonatas with piano by Handel (Op 1 No 3) and Vivaldi (RV10, arranged by Respighi), like the Bach, take us back to a period prior to the onset of 'original instruments' and sound as refreshing now as the 'authentic' performances sounded then. Martzy was a very musical player and charms in various shorter works (the pianist is Jean Antonietti).

Instruments are carefully balanced, sound is good. But this recording, originally in SACD format, would audibly have been a lot finer if it hadn't been downscaled to CD. Yet an elevated standard of musicianship shines through, revealing the Swiss Piano Trio to be a redoubtable team. Perhaps the opening Allegro of Op 1 No 1 might have benefited from a slightly slower tempo but that's soon forgotten as a considerate emphasis on modulations and changes in character emerge unobtrusively. Similarly the second movement, a touch quick for Adagio cantabile, is nonetheless yieldingly flexible, the melancholy implicit in the switch from A flat major to tonic minor (2'56") keenly felt.

A wider range of expressive possibilities in interpretation arise in Op 97, the first movement teeming with intensity, an Allegro that pushes the envelope beyond the moderato also specified. But there is no sense of haste either here or in the Scherzo, fierily forward-looking yet sensitive to the tenebrous tone of the B flat minor Trio, the long repeat properly observed. Invidious though it may be to single him out, pianist Martin Lucas Staub's leadership tells everywhere and has also to be credited for the charged emotional motivation of the slow movement; while the directions Allegro moderato followed by Presto in the finale are judged, and contrasted, to a nicety. For a more contemplative Archduke turn to Martin Roscoe and Co. But there is no gainsaying that this new performance is, on its chosen terms, equally formidable.

Mejor, como siempre, Eivind Aadland, quien vuelve a demostrar su empatía con Grieg en este poco agradecido programa.

Im Mittelpunkt steht Liszts berühmte Klaviersonate in h-moll, mit der Katchen CD 1 eröffnet. Voller Energie und hoch virtuos interpretiert er dieses Ausnahmewerk, zeigt sich dann in den folgenden Sieben Fantasien op. 116 sowie zweien der Sechs Klavierstücke op. 118 von Johannes Brahms auch dessen ausdrucksvoller Musiksprache bestens gewachsen [...]

Piękny jest dźwięk nagrania – oboje artyści mają do dyspozycji wspaniałe instrumenty, co zostało fantastycznie utrwalone na płycie.

[...] die Fassungen für Klavierduo gewähren mehr noch unerhörte Einblicke in die Partituren. [...] das gleichermaßen vergeistigte wie empathische Spiel des Duos bringt die kühnste Abstraktion zum Glühen. Nichts klingt hier trocken und sperrig, sondern ist vom Feuer der Inspiration erfüllt [...] Ein starkes CD-Debüt, Fortsetzung erwünscht