SCHOENBERG : The Piano Music = Das Klavierwerk = L'Œuvre Pianistique (Maurizio Pollini) (1975) RM | 20th Century Classics Series | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Without an understanding of Schoenberg's concentrated language and intensity of expression, performances of his piano music can suffer either from cerebral dryness or confused murkiness. On this CD, Maurizio Pollini strikes a fine balance between analytical and emotionally demonstrative approaches to produce a lucid yet passionate result. Pollini's interpretations change appopriately from piece to piece, revealing that these keyboard works are as varied as the stages of Schoenberg's career, from the Post-Romanticism of his early years to the liberating innovations of his maturity. The enigmatic, ambivalently chromatic Three Piano Pieces, Op. 11, and the more adventurous, atonal Six Little Piano Pieces, Op. 19, signify the development of a new language, perhaps similar in mood to late Scriabin, but free of old mannerisms. The Five Piano Pieces, Op. 23, benefiting from Pollini's clarity and concentration, sound spare and aphoristic. In the 12-tone Suite, Op. 25, Pollini brings out the wit and fluid elegance that run throughout the work, which approaches Neo-Classicism in both form and wry detachment. The Two Piano Pieces, Op. 33a and 33b, are free-standing and integral expressions, despite their brevity. Deutsche Grammophon's high-quality sound is clean, with only minimal tape hiss. Blair Sanderson

ARNOLD SCHOENBERG (1819-1896)
1-3.  Drei Klavierstücke Op. 11  (13:36)
4-9.  Sechs Kleine Klavierstücke Op. 19  (5:10)
10-14.  Fünf Klavierstücke Op. 23 3 (10:12)
15-21.  Suite Für Klavier Op. 25  (14:16)
22.  Klavierstück Op. 33a. Mässig (2:06)
23.  Klavierstück Op. 33b. Mässig Langsam (3:31)
Credits :
Design [Cover] – Holger Matthies
Piano – Maurizio Pollini 

BULL : Music for Harpsichord (Bob van Asperen) (2010) Serie Das Alte Werk | Two Version | FLAC (image+.tracks+.cue), lossless

JOHN BULL (1562-1628)
Tracklist :
Harpsichord – Bob van Asperen 

DR. JOHN BULL : Complete Works for Keyboard, Volume 1 (Peter Watchorn · Mahan Esfahani) (2009) 2CD | Two Version | FLAC (image+.tracks+.cue), lossless

The portrait of John Bull on the cover of this two-CD U.S. release gives an idea for the uninitiated of what to expect from the composer's music: it's intense, single-minded, and even a bit demonic (although the hourglass topped with a skull with a bone in its mouth is apparently an alchemical symbol). Bull was, in the words of an unidentified writer quoted by harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani, "the Liszt of the virginals." The most immediately apparent feature of his music is extreme virtuosity, on display especially in the mind-boggling set of variations entitled Walsingham (CD 1, track 8) and in the galliards of the pavan-galliard pairs. But the opposite pole in Bull's style exerts just as strong a pull: he is fascinated by strict polyphony by what would be called harmonic progressions, and by the close study of the implications contained within small musical units. As spectacular in their way as the keyboard fireworks are, the three separate settings of a tune called Why Ask You? on CD 2 are marvelous explorations of compressed musical gestures. Although the chromatic element in his music is only moderate (it is most thoroughly deployed in a sad pavan-galliard pair memorializing Elizabeth I), you might think of Bull as an English counterpart in extremity to Italy's Carlo Gesualdo. Indeed, his life is nearly as colorful as Gesualdo's was; among other episodes, he was forced to flee England for the Netherlands after charges later summarized this way: "The man hath more music than honesty and is as famous for marring of virginity as he is for fingering organs and virginals." Bull, for his part, maintained plausibly that the charges were trumped up, with the real motivation being to harass him for his Catholic faith. Annotator and harpsichordist Peter Watchorn provides detailed accounts of Bull's life, including an investigation of the elusive Walsingham, and also discusses the three Dutch-style harpsichords used on the album in detail. The pair of harpsichordists named on the cover do not perform together; instead, Esfahani is Watchorn's student, invited to participate in the project. It would take an immersed specialist to tell them apart and perhaps specialists are the intended audience for this first installment in an eventual complete recorded edition of Bull's keyboard music. An hour and a half of Bull may be a lot for general listeners, but even many of them will find fascinating items here. James Manheim
Dr. JOHN BULL (1562-1628)
Tracklist :
Credits :
Harpsichord – Mahan Esfahani, Peter Watchorn
Notas.
Recorded at St. Mary of the Hills Church, Milton, MA USA, July 2007
Tuning: 1/4 Comma Meantone: Peter Watchorn
Instruments: Zuckermann Harpsichords International (2007) after Hans Moermans II; 1642 Hubbard & Broekman (1990) after Andreas Ruckers, 1646; Hubbard & Watchorn (1990) after Hans Moermans I, 1584
Cover Illustration: John Bull, (1589, oil on panel) by English School (16th century), ©Faculty of Music Collection, Oxford University, The Bridgeman Art Library

JOSEPH GABRIEL RHEINBERGER : Organ Works • 1 (Wolfgang Rübsam) (2001) The Organ Encyclopedia Series | Two Version | WV (image+.tracks+.cue), lossless

Organist, conductor, composer and teacher, Rheinberger was born in Vaduz, Liechtenstein, where he held his first appointment as organist. He moved in 1851 to Munich, studying at the Conservatory, where he later taught, his pupils including Humperdinck, Wolf-Ferrari and Furtwängler. Rheinberger was an amazingly prolific composer in many genres. Today he is chiefly remembered for his organ music, a continuing element in any performer’s training and repertoire. His twenty Organ Sonatas are varied, impressive and technically accomplished, testifying to the continuing tradition of fugal writing that stems from Bach. The present volume includes the first four of these, with the second, the Fantasie-Sonate, and the third, the Pastorale-Sonate, bearing titles that go some way towards describing their musical content. naxos
JOSEPH GABRIEL RHEINBERGER (1839-1901)
1-3.    Sonata No. 1 In C Minor, Op. 28    (13:17)
4-6.     Sonata No. 2 In A Flat Major, Op. 65    (19:11)
7-9. Sonata No. 3 In G Major, Op. 88    (14:05)
Organ – Wolfgang Rübsam
Rieger-Sauer Organ of Fulda Cathedral, Germany, June, 1998. 

JOSEPH GABRIEL RHEINBERGER : Organ Works • 2 (Wolfgang Rübsam) (2001) The Organ Encyclopedia Series | Two Version | WV (image+.tracks+.cue), lossless

Organist, conductor, composer and teacher, Rheinberger was born in Vaduz, in Liechtenstein, where he held his first appointment as organist. He moved in 1851 to Munich, studying at the Conservatory, where he later taught, his pupils including Humperdinck, Wolf-Ferrari and Furtwängler. Rheinberger was an amazingly prolific composer in many genres. Today he is chiefly remembered for his organ music, a continuing element in any performer’s training and repertoire. His twenty Organ Sonatas are varied, impressive and technically accomplished, testifying to the continuing tradition of fugal writing that stems from Bach. The present volume contains Sonatas Nos. 5, 6 and 7. naxos
JOSEPH GABRIEL RHEINBERGER (1839-1901)
1-3.    Sonata No. 5 In F Sharp Minor, Op. 111  (19:17)
4-7.     Sonata No. 6 In E-Flat Minor, Op. 119  (25:10)
8-10. Sonata No. 7 In F Minor, Op. 127  (25:57)
Organ – Wolfgang Rübsam
Rieger-Sauer Organ of Fulda Cathedral, Germany, June, 1998.