Customer Reviews

Respighi / Janacek / Strauss: Violin Sonatas

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One benefit of the decline in major classical music production is the rise of independent musician backed labels like Avie. This British based label distributes recordings produced by the musicians themselves, allowing them to record the repertoire that really moves and excites them with excellent technical qualities. Frank Almond, concertmaster of the Milwaulkee Symphony and pianist William Wolfram have already won accolades from American Record Guide for their recording of the Brahms sonatas for violin and piano on the Boolean label.

With this new CD they present an unusual program of sonatas by R. Strauss, Respighi and Janacek. The Janacek proves to be the most original and substantial piece but there is great merit and beauty in the Strauss and Respighi sonatas as well. The excellent liner notes, written by Frank Almond himself, point to the qualities of originality and lyricism that bring him to record and love these pieces despite any criticisms of their structural problems.

The sound quality is detailed yet warm and resonant. I highly recommend this release to anyone loving chamber music and looking for a recording of neglected but beautiful music.

The major labels continue to waste time and money recording standard rep that has been recorded well many times over, often in the 50s and 60s in good quality sound. Many of the chamber musicians recording today lack the kind of musicianship of their great predecessors. I can safely say, that Almond and Wolfram are in the same league as the major players of the past and far better than many big names in the industry today. Buy this CD and support independent music recording!

One final note: the recording is described as SACD but is in fact a DDD recording unavailable in the super audio cd format. No matter, the sound is still excellent.

This is just to warn people that this is not a SACD record at all. The sound is alright and the interpretation is good. False advertisement is just annoying.