Reviews

Meyer Bottesini Concertos

ClassicsToday

Blues and Bottesini is a more apt title for this album of double bass concertos. Anyone familiar with Edgar Meyer’s recent best-selling bluegrass/classical collaborations (“Appalachia

Onslow symphonies

Victor Carr Jr

The symphonies of Georges Onslow (1784-1853), rather than following the path blazed by countryman Hector Berlioz, instead adopt the German romantic style epitomized by Schumann

Solomon Tchaik Scriabin

David Hurwitz

Solomon must have liked the Tchaikovsky First Piano Concerto because he recorded it twice, and while this version marks a bit of an improvement over

Busoni Chandos 9/9 C

David Hurwitz

There isn’t much Busoni orchestral music, and what there is varies widely in quality. His finest work in the medium is also his largest: the

Kempff Brahms Schumann/BBC 9/6 C

Jed Distler

Hot on the heels of Wilhelm Kempff’s 1958 live Salzburg performances of the Brahms F minor Sonata and Schumann C major Fantasy on Orfeo comes

Prokofiev: Kijé, etc./Scherchen

Dan Davis

Scherchen fans of a certain age will fondly recall the Prokofiev in its original incarnation as Westminster LP WL 5091, its murky brown cover depicting

St of Bleecker St/Hickox/Spoleto

Robert Levine

It’s not ersatz-Puccini, it’s echt-Menotti; if the triad associated with Annina’s (the eponymous saint) holiness and religiosity in general is reminiscent of Suor Angelica, well,

Scarlatti disc on CPO 5/7 C

ClassicsToday

Alessandro Scarlatti once said of the Baroque instruments of his day that they could never play in tune, and this collection of flute concertos, on

Henriques Da Capo 9/9 C

David Hurwitz

Light, charming, unpretentious, and tuneful, Fini Henriques’ (1867-1940) music recalls happier times and a more elegant, civilized era (which never really existed, but never mind).