Beethoven, a young charmer at the time, submitted to the art of rococo variations on Mozart arias that were in vogue. Martinů took over this playful approach with Rossini then adapted it to folk song whilst preserving the freshness, its hidden gravity and its original authenticity. Jiří Gemrot pastiches Beethoven with humour then, like a real heir of Martinů, pays tribute to Dvořák.

PRD DSD 250 293

Clear, precise music featuring rhythmic refinement as free as it is polished, with vibrations that are, in the final analysis, more morbid than conquering, a series of enchantments idealising the violin as the charming bard of the inexpressible. A new form of Expressionism and a timeless challenge for performers.

PRD/DSD 250 286

Together for the first time, three acclaimed concertos performed by the soloists who made them famous - dedicatees and performers D. Oistrakh and M. Rostropovitch, and then Leonard Bernstein himself, pianiste, conductor and composer with the less beloved Concerto Op.102. Lenny has produced a successful rendering of this curious cocktail – a tribute to Rococo style Bach, an entranced romantic andante along with a caricature of Prokofiev style virtuoso piano in the opening and closing allegros.

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Mallarmé was saying about a Gaugin’paiting : It’s wonderful to obtain so mysterious climax with so strong dash: an alternative with this‘Faune’ chamber approach. The first, the Piano Trio of 1879, and the last score, the Cello Sonata written in 1915 by‘Debussy, musicien français’.

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PRD/DSD 250 302

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Mstislav Rostropovich – Short Romantic Portrait

Short but striking picture of the great ‘Slava’, through three romantic scores, which he played along half a century, generous and virtuoso minstrel of a Russian art reaching universality.
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PRD/DSD 350 112

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IN MEMORIAM JANOS STARKER (1924-2013)

Only Janos Starker could propose such a program as difficult for the instrument as poorly rewarding for the instrumentalist:
the artist must fully express the lyricism from these scores from XXth century. At that time, he was play a very rare cello from
Stradivarius, then a Matteo Goffriller (Venezia, 1659-1742) for Martinu’s score. A true image of a master, often considered as
too full of composure but who does not hide here his exceptional lyric power.

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PRD 250 304

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Prokofiev was in poor health and making fewer public appearances when he asked Rostropovich for help in rewriting Concerto Op. 58. Slava premiered the work, renamed Symphony-Concerto Op.125, and worked on the unfinished Concertino Op.132. He waited until 1st March 1950 to premiere Op.119 with Sviatoslav Richter, a piece he played more than a hundred times during his career. It was to become a cello & piano classic, gloriously following in the wake of Beethoven’s Op. 69.         

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PRD 250 337

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Shostakovich began his career with hopes of becoming a professional pianist, and throughout his life he maintained a close
association with this instrument. He enjoyed playing in private and in public, and recorded compositions of his own in the
1940s and 1950s. Some of his most ebullient (Piano Concerto No.1, Op.35) and personal (Jewish Folk Poetry Op.49, Preludes
and Fugues, Op.87) scores were written for the piano. Many of his piano recordings are unfamiliar to classical music lovers
because of their poor sound quality, but this compilation makes for enjoyable listening.
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PRD 250 365-366

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Piatigorsky, only 18 years old, traveled from USSR to Germany, studied with Becker and Klengel and found employment playing in a trio in
a Russian cafe in Berlin, frequented by Feuermann and Furtwangler, who hired him as principal cellist of the Berlin Philharmonic. He kept
that post until 1929 (now 26 years old), when he decided to pursue a career as a traveling concert artist. When Richard Strauss heard him,
he said, ‘I have finally heard my Don Quixote as I thought him to be.’ That same year he made his debuts with the Philadelphia Orchestra
under Stowkowski, and the New York Philharmonic, with Mengelberg. He loved the United States, and became a citizen in 1942 . The first
Russian cellist of the last century wordily acclaimed before Rostropovich.

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PRD 250 368

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Pablo Casals (1876-1973) recorded the Beethoven’s his complete music for cello and piano studio recorded legacy with an other musical legend, the American (but Hungarian born and educated in Vienna) pianist Rudolf Serkin. ‘Two perfectly matched musicians operate here’, wrote distinguished New York Times critic Harold C. Schonberg. ‘For every bold stroke of the Casals bow there is an equivalently authoritative gesture from Serkin.’

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PRD 250 372

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