Celebrating two great string virtuosos
This month’s round-up also sees Bach and women composers on piano
The Grand Piano label has been at the forefront of showcasing the music of women composers, thanks to a series of acclaimed recordings. Three Centuries of Female Composers (Grand Piano GP897X) is a ten-disc collection bringing together recent releases of works by largely unfamiliar names. Seven pianists preside over the selection, including Nicolas Horvath on four discs and composer Tanya Ekanayaka playing her own works.
Johanna Martzy – Her Columbia Graphophone Recordings (Warner Classics 9029648857) celebrates a brief period of recording by the acclaimed Hungarian violinist. Though she largely recorded for Deutsche Grammophon post-world War II, she stepped into the studio for Columbia in 1954 and ’55, producing this selection of recordings. Martzy’s legacy is relatively little known outside collector circles, so it’s great to have these nine discs. She was the first woman to record the Bach Sonatas and Partitas; some of those feature here, alongside works by Brahms, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schubert and Mozart.
Heinrich Schiff was a cellist in a class of his own who loomed large on stage and record. In the Complete Recordings on Philips and Deutsche Grammophon (Decca 485 1899) we are treated to a limited-edition set of 21 discs that showcase Schiff’s virtuosity and diversity. Haydn and Schubert sit alongside a Gulda concerto (written for Schiff) and a Lutosławski concerto conducted by the composer, while Maxim Shostakovich conducts Schiff in his father’s pair of concertos. There’s plenty more to savour, from Vivaldi and Brahms to two recordings of the Dvorˇák Concerto.
Philippe Herreweghe has enjoyed a long association with the music of JS Bach, and in Bach (Phi LPH038), you can reacquaint yourself with some nine hours of recordings by his Collegium Vocale Gent. The ten discs were originally released singly from 2011-20, and they take in motets, the Leipzig Cantatas, the St John Passion and the Mass in B minor. It’s a real bounty of Bach brilliance, performed by some of the very best in the business.
Martzy’s legacy is relatively little known outside collector circles