MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... 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

Buy through MusicWeb for £12 postage paid.

Musicweb Purchase button


Buy through MusicWeb for £9 postage paid.

Musicweb Purchase button

 

 

Johann Sebastian BACH (1685 - 1750)
CD 1
Keyboard Concerto #1, BWV 1052 (1738) [22:21] 
Keyboard Concerto #2, BWV 1053 (1738) [19:22] 
Keyboard Concerto #3, BWV 1054 (1738) [16:22] 
CD 2
Keyboard Concerto #4, BWV 1055 (1738) [13:56] 
Keyboard Concerto #5, BWV 1056 (1738) [9:21] 
Keyboard Concerto #7, BWV 1058 (1738) [13:24] 
Italian Concerto BWV 971 (1735) [12:33]
  Vladimir Feltsman (piano, conductor), The Orchestra of St. Luke's 
rec. July 1993, American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, New York
  NIMBUS NI 2541/2[58:25 + 49:50]

Domenico SCARLATTI (1685 - 1757)
30 Keyboard Sonatas: K.14, 6, 106, 161, 490, 3, 32, 53, 105, 391, 45, 175, 145, 206, 327, 184, 407, 109, 496, 132, 402, 427, 466, 193, 215, 532, 443, 283, 380, 487
 John Browning (piano)
rec. April 1994, American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, New York
  NIMBUS NI 2544[70:53] 



Experience Classicsonline




Here are more of Nimbus' re-releases from the Music Masters catalogue. Those unearthing efforts were warmly welcomed when they offered Vladimir Feltsman's spunky and thoroughly gratifying Goldberg Variations from 1991. Those efforts are also welcome when it comes to Feltsman's recording of the Bach Keyboard Concertos—wholly affable and with liner-notes by Tim Page.

Admittedly, there is no reason to replace Angela Hewitt's slightly more complete, and considerably more expensive, recording (Hyperion, also available on SACD), or András Schiff (Decca), or Murray Perahia (Sony) with Feltsman. But if you have none of these recordings and you see Feltsman's about, go ahead and grab it in the secure knowledge that you will have a very fine account at hand.

Feltsman includes the 'standard 6', BWV 1052-1056 and 1057, but not BWV 1057, the modified Fourth Brandenburg and the incomplete BWV 1059 — and he adds a performance of the Italian Concerto. Much of what I said about Browning — tasteful, level-headed, technical efficacy — applies here, too, but at the other, upper end of the neutral-positive spectrum. The Orchestra of St. Luke's, conducted by Feltsman, turns in a very spirited performance. And although it's not a HIP band, their nimble forces and lissome playing make this 1993 recording sound modern which is to say: devoid of the 19th and 20th century romantic baroque opulence that had occurred here and there. Only in the opening Allegro of the F minor concerto (BWV 1056) is the orchestra minimally heavy-footed; everywhere else tempos strike lively and natural. Terrific stuff that makes for happy listening.

The same can't quite be said for the John Browning Scarlatti Sonata collection that Nimbus has helped to an extended, budget-priced life-cycle.

Recorded about eight years before his final recital — at the US Supreme Court (Browning v. Chopin) — it is a fine testament to Browning's unfussy, level-headed playing. Everything is tasteful - almost too tasteful - and in place. There are no technical issues and the sound is good. There's nothing wrong with it, and it is easy to derive great pleasure from the thirty popular sonatas Browning chose. But the enemy of the good is the perfect or, in this case, the very easy availability of more Scarlatti, performed with more individuality, more spirit, and generally better — at even less cost. Mikhail Pletnev's two-disc Scarlatti album (MusicWeb Review here) has rightly become the Alpha of all Scarlatti-on-the-piano discs. It is an inexorable element of any self respecting classical music collection. After Pletnev it's still not Browning's recital that vies for immediate attention. There are Yevgeny Sudbin (BIS), Maria Tipo (EMI), Vladimir Horowitz (Columbia), Christian Zacharias (EMI) or MDG), Konstantin Scherbakov (Naxos), and Ivo Pogorelich (DG) to get to, first.

If you're through those, or if you wish to familiarize yourself with John Browning's playing, then the Nimbus disc will, and should, enter your radar. It is a wonderful contrast to another great Browning recording, that of the Prokofiev Piano Concertos under Erich Leinsdorf (Testament).

Jens F. Laurson 

 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos 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

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




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.