Three Hours of Slow and Pretty

Complete Tranquility
Disc One

Johann Christian BACH (1735-1782)
Concerto in c minor for cello and orchestra (Adagio molto espressivo) [7:04]
Count Unico Wilhelm van WASSENAER (1692-1766)
(formerly attributed to Pergolesi)
Concerto armonico No. 3 in A (Largo, andante) [3:55]
Concerto armonico No. 4 in f (Largo) [4:19]
Concerto armonico No. 1 in G (Grave, staccato) [4:57]
Concerto armonico No. 5 in B flat (Largo, andante) [4:25]
Concerto armonico No. 4 in f (Adagio) [2:50]
Concerto armonico No. 2 in G (Largo affetuoso) [4:35]
Antonio VIVALDI (1678-1741)
Concerto in C for Recorder and Orchestra, RV444 (Largo) [4:14]
Concerto in C for Oboe and Orchestra, RV449 (Largo) [2:44]
Concerto in A for Strings, RV158 (Largo) [3:24]
Concerto in g for Two Cellos and Orchestra RV531 (Largo) [3:31]
Concerto in F for Flute and Orchestra RV433 (Largo) [2:14]
Igor STRAVINSKY (1882-1971)
Concerto in D for strings (Arioso) [2:35]
Dmitri SHOSTAKOVICH (1906-1975)
Concerto No. 2 in F for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 102 (Andante) [6:01]
Luigi BOCCHERINI (1743-1805)
Concerto in B-flat for Cello and Orchestra, G482 (Adagio non troppo) [6:34]

Disc Two

Giuseppi TARTINI (1692-1770)
Concerto in D for Cello and Strings (arr. Louis Delune) (Grave espressivo) [6:17]
Antonio VIVALDI (1678-1741)
Concerto in F for Violin, Organ and Strings RV542 (Adagio) [3:39]
Concerto in D for Two Violins, Cello and Strings, RV565 (Largo e spiccato) [4:11]
Concerto in G for Two Violins, Two Cellos and Strings, RV575 (Largo) [2:56]
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791)
Divertimento in B flat, KV 137 (Andante) [4:09]
Church Sonata in F, KV224 [4:24]
Divertimento in F, KV 138 (Andante) [5:56]
Franz SCHUBERT (1797-1828)
Minuet No. 3 in d, D89 [5:40]
Benjamin BRITTEN (1913-1976)
Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge, Op. 10 (Romance) [1:37]
Georg Frideric HANDEL (1685-1759)
Concerto grosso in a, Op. 6, No. 3 (Larghetto affetuoso) [2:33]
Concerto grosso in e, Op. 6, No. 3 (Larghetto) [1:31]
Concerto grosso in B flat, Op. 6, No. 7 (Largo e piano) [2:43]
Concerto grosso in c, Op. 6, No. 8 (Adagio) [1:27]
Concerto grosso in b, Op. 6, No. 12 (Largo) [1:12]
Rodion Konstantinovich SHCHEDRIN (b. 1932)
Carmen Suite (Second Intermezzo) [1:59]
Josef SUK (1874-1935)
Serenade in E-flat for Strings, Op. 6 (Andante con moto) [6:10]
Camille SAINT- SAËNS (1835-1921)
Carnival of the Animals (The Swan) [3:31]
Pyotr Ilyich TCHAIKOVSKY (1840-1893)
Album for the Young (The Old Nanny’s Tale) [2:54]
Franz Josef HAYDN (1732-1809)
Divertimento in D for Cello and Strings (arr. Gregor Piatigorski) (Adagio) [5:23]

Disc Three

Antonin DVORAK (1841-1904)
Serenade in E for Strings, Op. 22 (Moderato) [4:54]
Waltz No. 1 in A, Op. 54 [4:46]
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791)
Serenade in G for Strings RV525 (Eine kleine Nachtmusik) (Romanze, Andante) [5:44]
Marc-Olivier DUPIN (b. 1954)
Fantasia on Arias from La Traviata (Allegretto, Andantino, Allegro Brillante) [11:22]
Franz Josef HAYDN (1732-1809)
Twelve German Dances, H. IX: 12 [8:32]
Johannes BRAHMS (1833-1897)
Liebeslieder Waltzer, Op. 52 (Arranged for strings by Friedrich Hermann) (No. 6, No. 1 and No. 9) [4:43]
Alexander Porfir’yevich BORODIN (1833-1887)
String Quartet No. 2 in D (Notturno, Andante) (arranged for String Orchestra by Lucas Drew) [9:09]
Samuel BARBER (1910-1981)
Adagio for Strings [10:17]

Yuli Turovsky (cello)
Timothy Hutchins (sopranino recorder, flute)
Theodore Baskin (oboe)
Alain Aubut (cello)
Dmitri Shostakovich, Jr. (piano)
Elenora Turovsky (violin)
Geneviève Soly (organ)
Edvard Skerjanc (violin)
Christian Prèvost (violin)
Lucia Hall (violin)
Benoit Hurtuboise (cello)
David Owen Norris (piano)
Gregory Shaverdian (piano)
Alexander Trostiansky (violin)

Ensemble Repercussion
I musici de Montreal

Yuli Turovsky
Maxim Shostakovich

Recording locations and dates are not given.

CHANDOS 10565(3) Three Compact Discs [64:32] [73:05] [60:03]

Cellist Yuli Turovsky founded I musici de Montreal in 1983 and since that time has turned the fifteen member chamber orchestra into the Canadian version of Britain’s Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, racking up more than forty recordings and presenting more than one hundred concerts each season throughout the world. In this collection of sedate slow movements, the orchestra has compiled more than three hours of down-tempo excerpts sure to be a hit in doctors’ offices all over the globe.

There is a great deal in these full discs to enjoy. In particular, Turovsky’s amber toned cello playing, featured in a number of concerto movements is worth the price of admission. There is quite a lot of Baroque music featured, some of it adapted for modern forces by various skilled arrangers. I musici de Montreal is a modern instrument band, and although they perform with great sensitivity and taste, there is a good deal more vibrato in the string playing than is allowed by the period folk. Frankly, this richness of sound is rather refreshing to these ears and I am reminded of the great body of recordings made by Sir Neville Marriner and the ASMF, Jean Francois Paillard and his chamber orchestra, and the Italian ensemble, also known as I musici.

Other fine solos are delivered by Timothy Hutchins, particularly in the gorgeous Largo from Vivaldi’s Concerto in C for Sopranino recorder. Theodore Baskin also turns in some luscious playing in another Vivaldi work, this one an Oboe concerto, also in C. We get a goodly chunk of van Wassenaer’s Concerti armonico, works that for years were attributed to Italian boy genius Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, whose brilliant reputation led to all kinds of misleading publications after his tragic death and the tender age of twenty-six. These are lovely concertos, brimming with melody and rich harmonic suspensions, and the slow movements presented here are lovingly phrased.

Disc two is an interesting hodgepodge of old and new(er) music with items from the baroque sharing the stage with classical period, romantic and even a piece or two by more or less contemporary composers. Each selection, however is geared toward the theme of tranquility, and after a couple of hours of straight listening, I found myself going a bit numb from all the pretty slowness. With many of the excerpts coming in at under two minutes, I found that I barely had time to enjoy the music before it was over. Perhaps fewer works of somewhat more substantial length would have been a bit more engaging, but then again, that is a rather minor quibble.

Other highlights include a beautiful rendition of the Andante from Josef Suk’s E-flat serenade for strings. Suk is a composer that deserves to be heard more often in the concert hall, and this lovely excerpt is proof of that assertion. Borodin’s gorgeous Notturno from his second string quartet, here arranged by Lucas Drew for string orchestra receives a fine reading as does Samuel Barber’s ubiquitous Adagio, in a performance that spares us the gushy hyper-emotionalism of Leonard Bernstein’s lugubrious old recording.

Serious music buffs will likely thumb their noses at this compilation that is obviously designed to appeal to the “pretty music” set. But, for a long evening of peace and quiet, an elegant dinner party or a romantic encounter with one’s significant other, this attractively packaged set contains a lifetime’s worth of mood music, performed by a superb ensemble in top form. One can hope, however that the buyer will be inspired to explore the complete works from which these excerpts are taken. Slow and pretty is all fine and good, but the composers put forth complete sets of ideas in the works represented, and they are deserving of a full hearing.

MTT Brings Shostakovich to Life

Dmitri SHOSTAKOVICH (1906-1975)

Symphony No. 5 in d minor, Op. 47 (1937)

Documentary and performance by the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra

Michael Tilson Thomas

Recorded at Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco and the Royal Albert Hall, London, 2007 as part of the SFSO’s “Keeping Score” series, an in depth look at works from the classical repertoire.

SFS MEDIA 8 21936 0026 9 8 [1:49:08]

In 1936, Josef Stalin, the repressive dictator of the Soviet Union, went to see a performance of Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, an opera by the golden boy of Soviet Music, Dmitri Shostakovich. The young composer rushed to the theatre, hoping to bask in the glory of Stalin’s approval, only to discover to his horror that the communist leader had left in disgust after the first act. The next day, the now infamous Pravda editorial entitled Muddle instead of Music, which denounced Shostakovich as a composer of confusing, jarring noise appeared. The composer went immediately from socialist darling to a man in danger for his very life. Some believe that the only reason he was spared the gulags was because Stalin was in love with a patriotic song that Shostakovich had composed for a propaganda film some years earlier.

In a captivating hour of discussion, Michael Tilson Thomas plays heir to the legendary Leonard Bernstein as he teaches a fascinating lesson in musical analysis, political intrigue and biography. He dissects Shostakovich’s complicated score, exposing the composer’s protest, cleverly disguised as an apology. Did he compose a great patriotic score, or did he use every ounce of his genius to speak for a people oppressed and living in constant terror?

Tilson Thomas makes a strong case for the latter by pointing out the many subtle twists and turns of motif and harmony, revealing places where had Shostakovich chosen something as minute as a single different note, the outcome would have been completely different. In a well paced hour of discussion and musical examples, Thomas not only presents an intelligent analysis of the score, but he gives us a good look into the complex and tragic life of one of the twentieth century’s most significant musical figures.

Following the documentary, MTT leads the San Franciscans in a taut, well paced reading of the symphony from a 2007 appearance at the BBC Proms Concerts. There is no shortage of drama in the boldly dissonant opening movement, yet Thomas never resorts to the sort of extroverted emotionalism that was characteristic of Bernstein’s later readings. The brief scherzo is delivered with appropriate sarcasm, and then Thomas lowers the boom in this exquisite reading of the hauntingly personal third movement. Thomas places just enough hurt into the music to make the bitterly ironic final movement come across as the nose thumbing that it really is.

Production values are outstanding throughout, but I was disappointed that there was no documentation whatever in the booklet. Granted, Thomas tells you everything you need to know in the hour long documentary, but it would have been nice to have had some sort of outline to follow. This series would be a great aid to teachers teaching entry level music appreciation classes.

Bravo Royal Lane!

Congratulations to Royal Lane Baptist Church for having the guts to do what's right! In an article in the Metro section of yesterday's Dallas Morning News, Royal Lane went very public in their conviction to welcome any and all into the family of Christ, regardless of their gender, race, age, or sexual orientation.

Of course, the fundies are having a field day condemning RLBC for including such a sinful lifestyle as homosexuality in the church. Heaven's to Betsy, Jesus must be breaking dishes in heaven!

It speaks volumes as to the compassion and love that have always been hallmarks of Royal Lane to see them take such a public and, in Baptist circles, controversial stance.

Bless you RLBC, and may you long live and prosper to spread the love and acceptance (not hate and fear) that is message of Jesus Christ!

Some Nice Discoveries from the Baroque!

Johann Adolf HASSE (1699-1783)
Cantatas, Volume I

Come l’ape di fiore in fiore [4:28]
Il nome [15:21]
Sonata a tre in e minor for two flutes and basso continuo, Op. 3, No. 2 [8:49]
Chieggio ai gigli ed alle rose [10:03]
Sonata a tre in D, Op. 3 for two flutes and basso continuo, No. 3 [7:38]
E ver, mia Fille, e vero [12:46]
Muta e l’imago dell’idolo amato [4:48]

Lia Serafini (soprano)
Gabriella Martellacci (contralto)
Accademia del Ricercare
Pietro Busca

Recorded at Ex Salone Comunale, Verolergo, Italy, 17, 18 & 24 February, 2008.

BRILLIANT CLASSICS 93636 [64:00]

Johann Adolf Hasse, although German born, spent the bulk of his career in Italy, studied with the renowned Alessandro Scarlatti, spoke only Italian and composed vocal music exclusively in his adopted language, or in the case of sacred music, Latin. Although relegated to the sidelines in modern days, he was greatly respected in his day. Mozart held him in the same lofty company as Handel, and aspired to be himself remembered in such as league as Hasse.

Much of the vocal music presented on this elegant program has never been recorded before, and we have the Accademia del Ricercare to thank for bringing such engaging music back to life. Two fine soloists, soprano Lia Serafini and contralto Gabriella Martellacci alternate to present rich performances of arias and cantatas meant to entertain and impress guests in small intimate gatherings in the home. How lovely it is to hear a female contralto sing these lovely melodies instead of having to endure yet another failed baritone in the guise of a countertenor. (Note to conductors: unless you can get a Mark Crayton or a David Daniels, use girls!)

Hasse favored flutes as accompanying instruments but in keeping with common Baroque practice, any handy melodic instrument could be substituted, and we get superb playing from some outstanding Italian instrumentalists in both the wind and string sections. Of particular merit are the two dreamily charming trio sonatas from Op, 3, which are delivered with both serene airiness and sprightly rhythmic vitality.

Both vocal soloists deliver superb performances. Ms. Serafini’s light and radiant soprano is beautifully contrasted by Ms. Martellacci’s warm yet ever-clear contralto. Both ladies sing with distinct enunciation making the texts easy to understand. Both use ornamentation with ease, employing just enough to make things interesting without it getting in the way of the composer’s lilting melodies.

Kudos go to Brilliant Classics for joining Naxos and Arte Nova in bringing forth fascinating recordings at such a budget price. Program notes are informative and of just enough length to avoid being too academic or tiresome. Texts are provided, but sadly are presented only in the original language. If Brilliant can afford to translate the program note into three languages, why not the texts? Ahem!

Some Hasty Brahms

Johannes BRAHMS (1833-1897)

String Quartet No. 1 in c minor, Op. 51, No. 1 [34:33]

Piano Quintet in f minor, Op. 34 [43:21]

Quatour Ébène

Pierre Colombet (violin)

Gabriel Le Magadure (violin)

Mathieu Herzog (viola)

Raphaël Merlin (cello)

Akiko Yamamoto (piano)

Recorded at Ferme de villefavard en Limousin, France on 5-8 May 2008 (Quartet), and Fondation Singer-Polignac, Paris, 1-3 October, 2007 (Quintet).

VIRGIN CLASSICS 50999 216622 2 S [78:42]

Brahms’ Piano Quintet, which was published in 1865, saw several incarnations before taking on its masterful final form. It began life as string quintet with two cellos, modeled after Schubert’s famous example in C major. Neither Clara Schumann nor Joseph Joachim found much good to say about this initial effort. Brahms later cast the work as a sonata for two pianos, which pleased him, but was still met with a cold shoulder from his mentors. The conductor Hermann Levi encouraged Brahms to visit the composition a third time and in the summer of 1864, he finally created what was to be one of his finest examples of chamber music. The work was immediately declared a masterpiece by Clara, Joachim and Levi.

The stormy opening is full of sweeping gestures, thunderous episodes and complex rhythms. The Quatour Ébène and Akiko Yamamoto tear into the music with youthful abandon, and although their playing is of the highest technical order, I found the tempi to be rushed and breathless, leaving little room to express Brahms’ sweeping lines and seldom allowing phrases to settle before the next one is begun. Things go better in the slow movement where the music is allowed to breathe more and there is elegance in the turns of phrase. The Scherzo and trio hops along at good pace and the finale is performed with confidence and power in spite of the tendency to again rush a bit. Overall balance is fine and there is good give and take between the players, each allowing the other a moment in the sun where needed.

The same observations can be made of the String Quartet, a work that caused Brahms a bit of apprehension given the shadow of his predecessors Brahms and Schubert and their supreme achievements in the genre. Again, the ensemble seems too often to be on the verge of a loss of control where tempos are concerned. Too often I heard unseated phrases, gestures that were not given enough time to breathe and come to completion before the next idea was barreled into. Things were better in the slow movements, and it is evident that this group can play with a sense of lyricism when it has a mind to. It would have been nice to have heard a little more self-control in the outer movements though instead of just pure virtuosity for its own sake.

A Little Sample of von Karajan's Ego

Herbert von Karajan, Maestro for the Screen
A film by Georg Wübbolt. (2008)

ARTHAUS MUSIC 101459 [52:00]

Herbert von Karajan was not only one of music’s giant conductors; he was without a doubt in possession of one of its most giant egos. In an effort to secure his place in history, he left behind a huge trove of filmed performances, oftentimes reworking music from the standard repertoire with each new development in technology. The result is a trove of hundreds of hours of performances that document Herbert von Karajan. Oh yeah, and there is some pretty nice background music by Beethoven, Bach, Strauss, Schumann, Wagner, and Brahms et. al.

Georg Wübbolt has put together and interesting portrait of Karajan the technology buff by using very candid interviews by some of the key people who helped make his films possible. He speaks with members of the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic Orchestras, Karajan’s personal secretary, music journalists, directors and key figures in the recording and television industry.

Karajan was practically unrivaled in his use of technology. The only other superstar musician to exploit the media so completely was Leonard Bernstein, who was rather a constant thorn in Karajan’s side having adopted especially the use of television some years earlier than his German colleague. Members of the Berlin Philharmonic began to have a love-hate relationship with Karajan’s media exploits, being annoyed at the amount of focus being placed on the conductor as opposed to the music and the orchestra, but at the same time, relishing the considerable extra income they received from the filming sessions and royalties. Much emphasis was placed upon appearances and musicians were forbidden from wearing beards and bald players were required to wear wigs.

Karajan’s relationships with film directors were often nightmares and after a few years, Karajan became his own director, further slanting all of his projects to be all about him. Whether or not the music suffered from the conductor’s ego can be debated. What is certain however is that Karajan was an innovator and pioneer, and despite his self-centered nature, he was a master musician. As such, he delivered the goods with the orchestra. His interpretations of the standard repertoire, particularly the romantic literature are often second to none.

This brief documentary (in German with French, Spanish, English and Italian subtitles) is a rather fascinating look at a man of tremendous talent and ability who for good or ill left an indelible stamp on the world of classical music. It is most interesting to see how the filming of music performances evolved from the earliest television broadcasts into the 1990s and how von Karajan learned, adapted and developed with the technology and the times. I am not sure that this is a DVD that deserves a permanent place on the shelf, but it is definitely worth renting once or twice.

Some Lovely Choral Music from Rheinberger

Joseph RHEINBERGER (1839-1901)

Sacred and Secular Choral Music

Morgenlied [4:49]

Abendlied [2:29]

Warum toben die Heiden [3:03]

Es spricht der Tor in seinem Herzen [3:06]

Adoramus te [3:11]

Ave vivens hostia [3:36]

Salve Regina [3:25]

Dextera Domini [2:36]

Eripe me [3:52]

Missa Sanctissimae Trinitas, Op. 117 [16:40]

Waldblumen, Op. 124 [18:52]

Regensburger Domspatzen

Georg Ratzinger, conductor

Eberhard Kraus, organ

Recorded July 12-15, 1993 at St. Emmeran, Regensburg and at the Tonhalle der Regensburger Domspatzen.

ARS MUSICI 232154 [67:09]

Joseph Rheinberger belongs to that large swathe of composers whom musicologists term “minor masters.” Usually well respected or even famous in their own time, for whatever reason these often prolific and highly skilled craftsmen have failed the test of time. Thanks to the seemingly endless thirst for underperformed or undiscovered works in the digital age, a number of these musicians have made a post-mortem comeback. One such composer is Joseph Gabriel Rheinberger, a man of considerable ability whose refined technique and graceful style might easily compare favorably to that of the early romantics such as Schubert and Schumann and especially Mendelssohn, a composer with whom Rheinberger shared a very similar harmonic language.

Choral and instrumental music shared an equal place in Rheinberger’s output. His deep personal faith is reflected in his many works for the church which include numerous motets and mass settings and a sizeable collection of pieces for the organ. His intimate knowledge of renaissance counterpoint and thorough grounding in classical forms make for a winsome combination in his compositions. Couple his taut formal structure with a delicious harmonic language and you get music that is always pleasing to the ear.

This performance was a pleasant surprise to these ears, ears that as a rule find men and boys choirs a bit of a chore to listen to for very long. Over the years I have found that many a cathedral choir lacks the elements that make for a good choral sound. The boys are often shrill, the men harsh and abrasive and the blend nonexistent. Not so this choir which was initially established in the year 975! Truly deserving of their international reputation, this ensemble sings with a sweet and refined tone and with unanimity of sound that allows these gorgeous harmonies to ring out. This is the kind of music that is just awful if sung out of tune. With its predominance of dominant seventh harmonies and subtle shifts of tonality, one wrong turn can lead to an intonation disaster. Maestro Ratzinger shapes lovely phrases and only seldom is there a hint that a third or two might be pushed a little higher.

Highlights in this consistently fine recital include the lovely and contrasting Morgenlied with its joyous and sweeping melodies, and the intimately prayerful Abendlied with its text from the gospel of Luke in which the disciples implore Jesus to remain with them as the night is falling and they are afraid. Also of merit is the compact Missa Sanctissimae Trinitas, a work that is sharply contrasting to the expansive and glorious Cantus missa,(not recorded here) which is scored for double choir and won the composer a special citation from the Pope.

Rheinberger shows the influence of Schubert and Schumann in the charming set of nature poems Waldblumen. These little songs about the birds and the flowers are quite charming indeed, but Ars Musici are most remiss in providing no translations for the texts, an inexcusable act for an international release. That little flaw notwithstanding, this is a delightful collection of music, sure to please casual and serious listeners alike.

Elegant Chamber Music

Gabriel FAURÉ (1845-1924)

Piano Quintet No. 1 in d minor, Op. 89 (1905-6) [30:59]
Piano Quintet no 2 in c minor, Op. 115 (1921) [32:17]

Cristina Ortiz (piano)
Fine Arts Quartet: Ralph Evans and Efim Boico (violins); Yuri Gandelsman (viola); Wolfgang Lanfer (cello)

Recorded at the Performance Arts Center at purchase College, Theater C, Purchase NY, 20-22 December 2007.

NAXOS 8.570938 [63:24]

Gabriel Fauré was the youngest child in a family of six, the son of a school administrator and teacher with aristocratic connections. Encouraged as a child to pursue his musical interests, he was fortunate enough to study with Camille Saint-Saëns, with whom he maintained a close relationship until the elder composer’s death in 1921. Fauré would begin his career as a teacher and organist in smaller parishes, all the while composing songs. Ever self-critical, particularly where larger musical forms were concerned, it would be a few years into his career before he established himself as a major composer and pedagogue. Eventually his career would take him to the organ benches of several major Paris churches and to the directorship of the Paris Conservatoire, where his pupils would include the likes of Koechlin, Ravel and Nadia Boulanger to name but some of the stars.

Unlike many composers, Fauré seemed to have lived a charmed life, free from much of the poverty and personal stress that faced many of his predecessors and colleagues. He held steady jobs in worthwhile institutions throughout his career, was happily married and raised two sons, and lived to see his work internationally respected and to leave a legacy in the hands of several renowned composers that were his pupils. Consequently, his music reflects the serenity of his life. Although it never lacks passion, it seldom contains much angst, and as such has a soothing quality about it that makes most any work from his pen immediately appealing.

Harmonically, Fauré was a bridge figure between the romantics and the more modernist composers that were to be both his contemporaries and successors. Although often subtly adventuresome, his harmonic vocabulary never strays far afield and yet has a certain individuality that makes it both instantly appealing and rather difficult to play, given its tendency to turn right when you expect left, as it were.

These two major works of chamber music are nothing short of masterpieces, and show the care and time that Fauré took in composing them. At times dreamy, as in the opening movement of Op. 89 with its delicious d minor piano arpeggios, at others luminescent as in the gorgeous Andante of Op. 115. This is music that is indeed melodic, but not necessarily tuneful. In other words, a listener will get up having had a beautiful experience but perhaps not whistling any themes.

Cristina Ortiz and the Fine Arts Quartet are very welcome additions to Naxos’ endless supply of fine artists, giving us performances that are marked by understated virtuosity, subtle shadings of color and finely honed ensemble playing. The strings perform with a shimmering uniformity of tone and the balance between the keyboard and strings is never off. Ms. Ortiz has had a distinguished career as a soloist, her early concerto recordings of Villa-Lobos and Shostakovich garnering her many rave reviews. Here as a chamber musician, she proves herself to be similarly superior, playing with verve and panache, and as a complete partner in the music making.

This is music of immeasurable elegance. Yes, there are technical challenges to be met, but this ensemble plays with such refined finesse that the only thing that comes across is beauty. These are performances in which a listener can simply luxuriate, thoroughly enjoying the wash of sound that comes out of the speakers. Let’s hope that these artists come together again soon. Perhaps some Brahms and Schumann? Shostakovich maybe? The possibilities are exciting just to think about!