Category Archives: Pitman Reviews
Katarzyna Musiał and her “Spanish Heart”
Polish-Canadian pianist Katarzyna Musiał loves to play Chopin. She also loves Gershwin. However, the music that truly stirs her heart? The music of Spain. With good reason, too. In her conversation with program director John Pitman, Musiał shares how Spanish music and culture became her passion: it was a part of her upbringing, thanks to …
Pianist Jan Lisiecki explores Mendelssohn’s piano concertos
Canadian pianist Jan Lisiecki continues his exploration of, an interest in the different facets of Romanticism, following his Chopin CD with this new one of Mendelssohn’s piano concertos. The concertos anchor the CD, but are not the only highlight: Lisiecki tells me (in our conversation), that from the beginning he wanted to incorporate the “Serious …
Ascent with violist Matthew Lipman
Matthew Lipman is a 2015 Avery Fisher Grant winner, has recorded with Rachel Barton Pine and Sir Neville Marriner. Since graduating from Juilliard Lipman is now on the viola faculty at Sony Brook University and concertizes around the world. His debut CD, Ascent, is in tribute in part to his mother (d. 2014), and commissioned …
Songplay: Soprano Joyce DiDonato’s spin on Baroque arias
Soprano Joyce DiDonato’s recording projects are seldom conventional. Her last, “Hopes and Dreams: The Lullaby Project” featured original songs to texts by new mothers, some of whom were experiencing financial insecurity. Her newest, Songplay, goes back to her roots as a budding singer. She rediscovered the arias that all young singers are taught, and then …
The Temple of Glory: Conductor Nicholas McGegan realizes a dream
British-born Nicholas McGegan has been directing San Francisco’s Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra since the 1980s (about the time that this interviewer started in radio), and has had many sweet successes during that time in bringing great Baroque works to audiences around the world. One of the sweetest for McGegan happened just a few years ago, when …
Beethoven Unbound: Complete sonatas featuring Llŷr Williams
Any time that a pianist undertakes to record a complete set of anything in classical music, it’s bound to be an endeavor taking considerable time and effort. Take on the 32 piano sonatas of Beethoven, plus all the other solo piano pieces by one of music’s giants, and I imagine that it must be daunting. …
John Pitman CD Reviews: Amit Peled’s Bach Suites for Cello
The great 20th century cellist, Pablo Casals, was the first in the world to record all six of Bach’s suites for unaccompanied cello. This was in 1939. Before this, people only considered the suites as study pieces. Casals proved them wrong, and now the suites are among the most beloved works for the instrument of …
Hilary Hahn: Bach Partitas and Sonatas
Early in her career, violinist Hilary Hahn took on music that many before her wouldn’t approach until they were a little older. She chose three of the six unaccompanied violin works of J.S. Bach, a set regarded as the pinnacle of solo violin repertoire. Now, 21 years later, Hahn returns to complete the set. Naturally, …
Eternal Light: Morten Lauridsen
We of the Pacific Northwest consider Morten Lauridsen “one of our own”, as his roots can be traced here. Lauridsen was born in Colfax, Washington, lived not far from Mount St. Helens as a boy, and was in the first graduating class of Beaverton High School. While Lauridsen has spent much of his time teaching …
Bach arias sung by German baritone, Benjamin Appl
Baritone Benjamin Appl, who was born in Bavaria and now performs in recitals and concerts around the world, was introduced to the music of Bach as a chorister at the age of 6. His new CD, titled simply “Bach”, does what Mr. Appl did here in Portland in January: Taking us, the audience, on a …
