MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2023
Approaching 60,000 reviews
and more.. and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


CD REVIEW

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger


alternatively Crotchet   AmazonUK   AmazonUS

Protégé
Franz LISZT (1811-1886)

Piano Sonata in B minor (1852-53) [31:10]
Julius REUBKE (1834-1858)

Piano Sonata in B flat minor (1857) [29:00]
Anthony Hewitt (piano)
rec. Potton Hall, Suffolk, 23-24 January 2006. DDD
DIVINE ART DDA 25064 [60:10]





This is a valuable and enterprising release, featuring a seemingly obvious coupling for the first time on CD. The Liszt ‘B minor’ is no stranger to the catalogue, but the rarer Reubke Sonata has also been lucky to have received some fine recordings in recent years, notably those by Till Fellner and Jeremy Filsell, the latter coupled with the Organ Sonata on the 94th Psalm. To be able to listen to two such fine performances side by side by a player who obviously possesses a strong affinity with this style lends this release a compelling authority.

Reubke is one of the might-have-beens of nineteenth century music, tragically dying at the age of twenty four. It seems all the more miraculous then that he managed to write two such important and substantial pieces. The Organ Sonata is one of the staples of the repertoire, and is arguably a more successful work than his teacher Liszt’s Fantasia and Fugue on "Ad nos, ad salutarem undam" on which it is based. It has a thematic unity and economy of invention that is lacking in sections of the Piano Sonata, even taking into consideration the different resources. Perhaps he would have revised it if he had lived longer, a luxury Liszt was granted during his long life. Yet in such a sympathetic recording as this, its mixture of youthful exuberance and virtuosity more than make up for any structural question marks.

Hewitt’s grasp of the narrative aspects of Liszt’s Sonata is strong, as is his ability to lend a sense of inevitability to each section. As I mentioned in the first paragraph, the number of recordings of this piece is bewildering, ranging from the devil-may-care Argerich to the more cerebral Brendel. Hewitt seems to fall into the latter camp, being more intent to focus on the purely musical aspects of the score than in showing off his considerable technique. In his quest to achieve a unified interpretation - perhaps highlighted by providing just one CD track for each piece - I sometimes felt he under-emphasised the climactic moments, particularly in the slow movement build-up, but its fluency and drive are impressive on any level.

For me this release is particularly valuable for the Reubke Sonata: its importance in the repertoire is not fully appreciated and such a recording as this will win it many new converts. The CD notes are informative and detailed and the recording is clean and truthful.

Robert Costin


 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 

Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.