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             


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


 REVIEW


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

 

 

alternatively
CD: AmazonUK AmazonUS
Download: Classicsonline


The Piano at the Carnival
Aram KHACHATURIAN (1903-1978)
Masquerade
Suite (1941) (transc. A. Dolukanian) [16.11]
Robert SCHUMANN (1810-1856)
Carnaval
Op. 9 (1835) [30.00]
Franz LISZT (1811-1888)
Hungarian Rhapsody No. 9 (The Carnival of Pesth) (1843) [11.42]
Frederyck CHOPIN (1810-1849)
Souvenir de Paganini (Carnival of Venice)
(1843) [3.14]
Sydney SMITH (1839-1899)
Fantasia brillante on Verdi’s ‘Un Ballo in Maschera’
(1861) [5.08]
Antonin DVORAK (1841-1904)
Carnival Overture Op. 92 (transc. Klengel) [10.16]
Anthony Goldstone (piano)
rec. St. John the Baptist Church, Alkborough, North Lincs, England, 2008-2009
DIVINE ART DDA25076 [76.31]
Experience Classicsonline


Anthony Goldstone is something of a miracle. He has recorded over seventy CDs - some solo and some as a duet - being half of the Goldstone and Clemmow (his wife Caroline) duo. He learns quickly and is willing to explore a wide and often untapped repertoire. The back of the booklet proclaims “This is one of a series of three CDs containing rare and dramatic transcriptions and paraphrases”. There are some pieces here that I never dreamt could exist for solo piano. And above these words is a sketch of one Paul Klengel, a highly regarded transcriber who turns the Carnival Overture of Dvorak into an amazing romp, well beyond the ability of most pianists. This work, which ends the disc in a flourish, sums up the whole enterprise.

All of the pieces have a connection with carnival and general gaiety. Aram Khachaturian’s ‘Masquerade Suite’ was compiled from music for his full-length ballet. Alexander Pavovich Dolukhanian who transcribed the five sections recorded here was Armenia’s Chess Champion at one time. As if the transcription wasn’t busy enough Goldstone comments in his notes that “I have made modifications in order … to restore orchestral detail omitted by Dolukhanian for the purpose of simplification”!. Brought up on the old Light Programme as I was, the opening Waltz, regularly heard, is an old favourite. There follows a Nocturne, a Mazurka, a gorgeous Romance and then a hectic Galop.

Sydney Smith was the darling of society ladies. Apparently his music sounded very challenging but “had a minimum of difficulty” according to a contemporary critic but even Anthony Goldstone admits that his ‘Fantaisie’ is “quite difficult”. Three themes are played within this pot-pourri. In addition a seamlessly flashy coda is appended making a satisfactory conclusion. I would like to hear more of Sydney Smith.

In 1829 Chopin heard Paganini play a set of variations around the barcarolle called ‘Le Carnival de Venise’ and was astonished by his virtuosity. He attempted a (brief) work of his own on this famous theme in homage to the great violinist.

Some composers made transcriptions, as it were, of their own music, Liszt who regarded himself at the time as the Paganini of the piano wrote no less than nineteen ‘Hungarian Rhapsodies’. This one “Carnival of Pesth” is neatly organized with a main melody which reminds me, I’m afraid, of ‘There’s no place like home’. Goldstone’s notes analyse the music nicely without being too technical and he slides over the virtuosity making the piece sound quite facile.

This stuff is all very well, I hear you cry, but what about a bit of substance? Well that is provided by Schumann’s ‘Carnaval’, his set of twenty quirky, individual - indeed eccentric - piano pieces. It’s entirely possible that you already have a recording of this piece, say on an all-Schumann disc. At thirty minutes in length it does take up almost one third of the CD. Yet there is little amiss about Goldstone’s performance. You might feel, like me, that a little more humour is needed in the Pierrot and Arlequin movements which are a touch heavy-handed. You may want a little more tenderness in 'Chiarini’ a code word for Clara (Wieck - later Schumann). Paganini makes another appearance in the ‘Valse Allemande’ which perhaps could be a little more flashy. Nevertheless there are many good moments too. Schumann’s two egos, Eusebius and Florestan, are well characterized and the virtuoso ‘A pause’ comes out brilliantly. The finale ‘Marche’ brings the sequence to a spirited end.

Something of an unusual disc, but nicely planned and shedding some fascinating insights on the whole idea of a ‘mardi-gras’ for piano solo. Perhaps you might feel that it’s a bit of a ‘dog’s dinner’ but my wife is going to play it “often” in the car she says. I hope that the Carnival atmosphere does not affect her driving too much.

Gary Higginson 

 


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.