BEST CLASSICAL CD

THE BEST CLASSICAL MUSIC CDs OF THE YEAR

From the Desk of Esther Cohen-Hamilton

Puccini: Edgar: Varady/ McCormick/ Tanner/ Jenis/ Cigni/ French Radio Choir/ French National Orch/ Levi
Rating: TWO CDs.
While there are dozens of recordings of Puccini's later operas, the first two have had a thin time on disc. Now from Radio France on the Naive label come new recordings of Le Villi and Edgar, which can be warmly recommended. Puccini wrote his first opera, Le Villi - The Willies - using a story similar to that of the ballet, Giselle, in which a faithless lover is destroyed by the spirit of his beloved. The first performance in 1884 was an instant success, winning him a contract with Ricordi, Italy's leading publisher, who kept faith with his young discovery even though it was five years before he completed his next opera, Edgar. Puccini's big mistake was to keep the same librettist, Ferdinando Fontana. Where the story of Le Villi is very simply told, with motivation clear and direct despite the supernatural element, Edgar has a much more elaborate story with absurd developments. So in act one the hero, Edgar, burns down his own house for no apparent reason, and in act three, just as implausibly, stages his own funeral, with a suit of armour in place of the body. None the less, the score of Edgar brings important developments in Puccini's technique as a composer, with a through-composed score merging arias and ensembles. Hearing these new recordings side by side suggests that though Le Villi is simpler, the result is more characteristic of the mature Puccini, with big melodies more striking than those in Edgar. Both the new recordings score impressively over the existing versions in the refinement of the sound: Melanie Diener and Aquiles Machado in Le Villi and Julia Varady and Carl Tanner in Edgar are all allowed a range of expression largely denied to their starrier rivals on Sony. Smaller roles are also well cast, with both conductors, Marco Guidarini in Le Villi and Yoel Levi in Edgar, pointing rhythms and phrases with natural sympathy- Edward Greinfeld.

András Schiff. JS Bach: Goldberg Variations

András Schiff has returned to the Goldberg Variations 20 years after his acclaimed first recording for Decca. During that period he has emerged as one of the foremost Bach interpreters of his generation, and certainly one of the most warm and human in his approach. Schiff prizes a cantabile voice in his piano to such an extent that he travels with his own technician and a piano always prepared by the same 'maestro' in Pescara, Italy. The primacy of lyricism is also apparent in Schiff's playing, which is nuanced and supple throughout. He can be powerfully virtuosic when the music calls for it, as in variations 14 or 29 of the set, but elsewhere he is mercurial, commenting on one variation that 'it's difficult to understand those interpreters who attack this piece with machinegun-like aggression'. Schiff always favours the melodic and singing quality of the music over the pristine geometry of Bach's counterpoint, with a sparing use of the pedal, very few hard edges and more dynamic shades of grey than are often found in interpretations of Baroque music. Schiff has a tendency in slower numbers to stagger the hands so that the left hand plays fractionally before the right, a mannerism particularly apparent in the opening and closing Aria, and which can become irritating. The other small disappointment of the recording was a certain sense of haste in variation 25, the tragic heart of the work whose poise and space Gould captured so well in his famous reading. Minor niggles apart, it's astonishing that this note-perfect recording was taken from a live performance (in Basel), which also provides a generous acoustic. No review would be complete, either, without mentioning the wonderful sleeve notes, written by Schiff himself and featuring an acrostic tribute in verse to the pianist by Vikram Seth. Schiff comes over like a dandyish schoolteacher bringing his subject alive, but always willing to be distracted from lessons by the temptation to tell a good anecdote. On the inauthentic use of piano, for example, in a work for which Bach expressly prescribed the harpsichord, he cautions: 'let's not forget we are talking about an hour and a quarter of music - hands on heart, can you listen to the harpsichord that long?' With Schiff at the piano, the time certainly flies by.-Matthews Sorter.

Ivan Moravec's First Chopin Disc in Two Decades Is Worth the Wait. Scott Cantrell. RATING:

Ivan Moravec is a connoisseur's pianist. He never bangs, but draws the most luminous and richly colored sounds imaginable from the piano. His rhythmic expression is deeply personal, even daring. All of which makes him one of history's greatest Chopin interpreters — and his first new Chopin disc in maybe 20 years a must-have. Amazingly, this is the Czech pianist's first recording of any of the Chopin sonatas — the others are scheduled for subsequent CDs — but it's marvelous. Every movement seems a voyage of discovery, with nothing taken for granted. There's noble rhetorical flair and daring rubato, but also warmth and tenderness, and yet Moravec finds something scary in the turbulent finale. The F minor Ballade and the Berceuse are exquisitely done, and there's a delicious hint of mischief in the Mazurkas. I wish the microphones were a couple feet farther away, allowing for a little more spaciousness, but the sound is tactile and true.