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Otaka; Tadaaki
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Glazunov: Symphonies
My colleague Victor Carr Jr already has commented favorably on most of the individual releases in this fine cycle of Glazunov symphonies (all except Nos.…
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Toru Takemitsu: Orchestral music SACD/Otaka
It is rare to find a disc as creatively programmed as this BIS release. Enhanced by lovely performances, played with great devotion to the memory…
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Rachmaninov: Piano Concertos
Here’s what amounts to an uneven Rachmaninov concerto cycle cobbled together from previously available releases on labels such as ASV and Nimbus. Nikolai Luganski’s idiomatic…
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Glazunov: Symphonies Nos. 5 & 7/Otaka
Alexander Glazunov’s Fifth Symphony is an exemplar of the late-19th-century Russian style, with its long, brooding first-movement introduction, upbeat Allegro (based on a theme strongly…
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Glazunov: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 6/BBC Wales
The third installment in Tadaaki Otaka’s ongoing Glazunov symphony series falls short of the level achieved in the previous issues, primarily due to sound quality.…
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Glazunov: Symphony No. 2/BBC Wales
Alexander Glazunov’s Symphony No. 2 (completed in 1886, when the composer was 21) is distinguished by its quintessentially Russian thematic style, which like Borodin’s juxtaposes…
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Glazunov: Symphony No. 3/Otaka
Tadaaki Otaka follows up his fine Glazunov Second with this excellent performance of Symphony No. 3. Many of the earlier recording’s virtues are present here:…
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HOW SLOW THE WIND
Toru Takemitsu never could get his mind around fast music; just about everything he writes is a slow wash of sound with plenty of tidal…
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Brian Elias
Refusnik poet Irina Ratushinskaya’s collection “No, I’m not afraid” was written during her four years in a Soviet labor camp. British composer Brian Elias was…
