Strauss: Macbeth; Ein Heldenleben. NSO/Gerhard Markson (Naxos)
Strauss: Don Juan; Tod und Verklarung; Macbeth. Saarbrucken Radio SO/Gunther Herbig (Arte Nova)
The expansiveness of NSO principal guest conductor Gerhard Markson in Strauss's portrait of himself as hero held far greater attractions in concert than it does on disc. In Heldenleben as recorded, the tension is poorly maintained, the colours wan (in spite of the firmness of the playing), the smoothness just too much to take. The Prozac approach is applied to Macbeth also, where, with music of slighter substance, the effect is even less persuasive. Strauss playing of altogether finer cast, still at under a fiver, can be had on Arte Nova. Herbig's Macbeth blazes with fire and colour where Markson's remains doggedly bland.
Michael Dervan
Saint-Saens: Violin Concertos. Philippe Graffin, BBC Scottish SO / Martyn Brabbins. (Hyperion)
Hyperion are following their much-praised Romantic Piano Concerto series with one for the violin, starting with the three concertos that Saint-Saens produced between 1858 and 1880, when he was 45 and his beard was still dark. He's an interesting figure to launch the series with, given his classical bent and his self-revelatory remark that "art is capable of existing apart from the slightest trace of emotion or passion". The violin concertos, of which only the Third has held its place in the repertory, all show the poise, formal balance, melodic facility and felicity which were his hallmarks. Philippe Graffin plays them with an ardent commitment that's nicely supported by the observant and alert playing of the BBC Scottish SO under Martyn Brabbins.
Michael Dervan
Piatigorsky plays Beethoven, Brahms and Weber. Testament (2 CDs)
The pairing of Gregor Piatigorsky and Solomon in the Beethoven cello sonatas in 1954 was an unusual one. The Russian-born Piatigorsky had been a member of the ego-rich, so-called Million Dollar Trio (with Heifetz and Rubinstein). Solomon was a Briton renowned for his classical reserve. And if you read the musical encounter as conflict, it was Solomon who won out. He sounds at all times fully himself. It's Piatigorsky who seems to be the more challenged by the partnership, and the recording lacks a necessary openness of acoustic. Piatigorsky's 1938 recording of Brahms's E minor Sonata with Rubinstein may be more restricted in sound. But it's looser-limbed, and the expressive freedom is all to the music's advantage. Good transfers.
Michael Dervan