PAGANINI : 24 caprices (Mayuko Kamio) (2009) FLAC (image+.cue) lossless

Of all the virtuoso composers to emerge from the 19th century, the devilish image of Niccolò Paganini may be the most enduring. Not only did he single-handedly change audience perceptions as to the appeal of virtuosity for the sake of virtuosity, but inspired a generation of subsequent composer-performers and pushed forward technical demands of the violin. Of all his compositions, the 24 Caprices, Op. 1, remain as some of the most difficult works in the literature and test the mettle of violinists to this day. Despite their difficulty, there is no shortage of recordings available ranging in quality from the sublime to the completely abysmal. The challenge is not only to produce a technically brilliant performance (which is a must), but to also make real music out of what could be seen as little more than technical exercises. Violinist Mayuko Kamio, with her second album on the RCA/Sony label, seeks to do just that. Her performance of the caprices has all the technical superiority as Midori's youthful attempt. Though not quite as startlingly fast as Midori, Kamio adds something that some violinists fall short on when recording the Caprices: right arm control that matches the left hand. Kamio rarely crunches chords, buzzes strings, or pushes her violin (a Stradivarius once owned by Joseph Joachim) past its limits. This, coupled with her warm, focused sound even in the stratospheric ranges of her instrument, makes this recording one worthy of most any collection. RCA's liner notes are brief but informative, yet curiously lack a biography of their gifted artist. Mike D. Brownell
Tracklist & Credits :

FRANÇOIS COUPERIN : Keyboard Music • 1 (Angela Hewitt) (2003) APE (tracks), lossless

Tracklist & Credits :

FRANÇOIS COUPERIN : Keyboard Music • 2 (Angela Hewitt) (2003) APE (image+.cue), lossless

Angela Hewitt once again presents an intelligent, yet eminently musical performance of Baroque keyboard works on the piano on the second of her three discs devoted to Couperin's Pieces de Clavecin. Her depth of knowledge, revealed in her liner notes, extends from the works to his life, his times, and Baroque music. This can be heard in her playing, adding to her own enjoyment of the pieces. She obviously enjoys the challenges of interpreting then presenting the pictures Couperin hints at with titles such as Les Ombres errantes (The Wandering Souls), La Sophie (either a Muslim mystic or the name of a young girl), and Saillie (either a leap or a quip), and of performing them on a modern version of an instrument that had only just been invented when these were written and, therefore, is not the instrument Couperin anticipated being used. On this particular disc, the works primarily use the upper part of the keyboard. Hewitt has a touch that is neither too heavy for this, which would make them sound dense or even muddy, nor too delicate, which would make them seem more ephemeral or trifling. Nor does she ever try to approximate the sounds of a harpsichord. She gives each piece beautifully clear tones and phrasing. Her presentation and her understanding make the disc a thoroughly enjoyable experience. Patsy Morita
Tracklist & Credits :

FRANÇOIS COUPERIN : Keyboard Music • 3 (Angela Hewitt) (2005) APE (image+.cue), lossless

With this disc, Angela Hewitt, the renowned Canadian pianist who heretofore specialized in the keyboard music of Bach, completes her survey of the keyboard music of François Couperin. While it is a highly selective survey -- Hewitt chose the works based on how well she thought the harpsichord works might sound on the modern concert grand and on her own personal interest -- it is also a highly significant survey. Because while Bach's harpsichord music is standard repertoire for most pianists, Couperin's harpsichord music has remained terra incognito for nearly all pianists and Hewitt's marvelously apt and wonderfully balanced performances go a long way toward providing the proof that the music can sound equally delightful on the piano. With all the Third Suite and much of the Fourth Suite from Couperin's Third Book of Pièces de Clavecin plus 10 movements chosen from the first and second books, Hewitt's selections are all highly effective and sound as natural on the piano as they do on the harpsichord. Purists may disparage the whole notion of playing harpsichord music on the piano, but even they will have to admit that Hewitt's warmly modulated tone and virtually flawless technique make for lovely listening. Hyperion's sound is perhaps just a bit too distant, but never less than clear and deep. James Leonard     Tracklist & Credits :

DOMENICO ZIPOLI : Complete Keyboard Music (Carlo Guandalino • Laura Farabollini) 2CD (2016) FLAC (image+.cue) lossless

If the keyboard music of Domenico Zipoli (1688-1726) is now played or remembered, it is through the gentle swing of his C major Pastorale with its chirpy central section, popular as communion music with organists. Few of them will know that the Pastorale forms part of a larger collection of Sonata d’intavolatura, which were published as Book 1, with a second book which worked in the same genre but for harpsichord. Both books have been recorded before, but they have never been available as a single set, or at budget price.
The individual works in the harpsichord collection are structured as four- and five-movement dance suites, containing ornate preludes, reflective sarabandes and lively gavottes and gigues, with two more stately partitas, in C major and A minor. They are played here on a copy of an instrument by Taskin in the late 18th century, built by the Piedmontese instrument-maker Giuseppe Corazza. The organ used for the first book of sonatas is a two-manual instrument for the Church of SS. Peter and Paul, Castelnuovo Scrivia in the province of Alessandria. It was built in 1612 by the brothers Angelo and Giuseppe Vitani and subsequently revised by Luigi Amati in 1796.

The Princess of Forano to whom he dedicated the sonatas, Maria Teresa Strozzi, may have been related to the bishop, Leone Strozzi, who had confirmed him at Prato Cathedral on 2 May 1699. Both sets of sonatas were written by Zipoli in his early 20s, while he was organist of the Jesuit church in Rome, and they were published in 1716, the same year that he joined the Jesuit order. Having been sent the following year as a missionary to South America, he died of tuberculosis before he could be ordained as a priest, but while in Paraguay composed several cantatas on which he fame now chiefly rests.

Domenico Zipoli (1688-1726) led an turbulent and adventurous life. A student of Alessandro Scarlatti and Pasquini he held important posts as organist and composer in Florence and Rome. However he went to Spain to join the Jesuit Society from where he was sent to South America, where he settled in Cordoba (Argentina) as missionary and composer.
Zipoli wrote in the Italian keyboard style as a worthy successor of Frescobaldi, Scarlatti and Pasquini. He wrote for both organ and harpsichord, and both instruments are included in this new recording of his complete output for the keyboard.
Played by Carlo Guandalino on a historical 1612 organ of Castelnuovo Scrivia, and by Laura Farabollini on a copy of a 17th century French Taskin harpsichord. brilliantclassics.com    Tracklist & Credits :