cited: New York Times

Leif Ove Andsnes, pianist; Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Franz Welser-Möst. EMI Classics 2 64182 2; CD.

“Shadows of Silence” is the latest release from Leif Ove Andsnes, the Norwegian pianist famed for grand, elegant perfomances of classic works. It follows in his established pattern of contemporary interpretations. This newest album is devoted to new pieces, which include two compositions created especially for him: Marc-André Dalbavie’s Piano Concerto and an impressionistic, moody 16-minute solo piece- the work of Danish composer Bent Sorensen. The album’s title piece, the work was commissioned by Carnegie Hall, where Mr. Andsnes premiered it in 2005.

The album opens with a pensive, delicate performance of Mr. Sorensen’s short, hushed and enigmatic “Lullabies.” Next comes a stunning account of the Piano Concerto by the Polish composer Witold Lutoslawski, with Franz Welser-Möst conducting the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Bartok was clearly a template for Lutoslawski in this 1987 work, which crackles with earthy rhythms and elemental, folkloric tunes. Mr. Andsnes dispatches the technically formidable piano part with lucid clarity and effortless brilliance, from the whirlwind runs of the maniacal Presto movement to the pummeling chords of the finale, which comes across like a fractured peasant dance.

Mr. Dalbavie, born in 1961 in France, is associated with spectralism, an ambiguous term applied to composers who explore the physical, spatial and perceptual qualities of sound. Yet for all the atmospherics, there is nothing amorphous about this fitful piece, which erupts with obsessive scale patterns and repetitive riffs. Mr. Andsnes combines transparent colorings and incisive articulations in his riveting performance. Mr. Welser-Möst and the orchestra are vibrant partners in both concertos.

If you’re an up-and-coming musician yourself, you need a dependable cd copying opportunity. Los Angeles CD duplication isn’t necessarily expensive, and getting multiples of your work is absolutely necessary to get ahead. Like a business card, you’ve got to have a CD copy at the ready at all times.

Gyorgy Kurtag’s “Jatekok” (“Games”) are descendants of Schumann’s character pieces for piano. Mr. Andsnes plays four of them here, brilliantly.

Erik Heide, violinist; Mathias Reumert, percussionist; Aarhus Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Thomas Sondergard. DaCapo 8.226034; CD.

THE Danish composer Poul Ruders wrote his vivacious, expertly wrought “Concerto in Pieces” (1995) as a sequel to Britten’s “Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra.” Commissioned by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, he followed Britten’s example and composed variations on a theme by Purcell: in this case the Witches’ ‘Ho-Ho-Ho’ chorus from Act II of “Dido and Aeneas.”

Thomas Sondergard conducts the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra in a high-energy performance of the engaging score, in which Mr. Ruders spotlights different instruments with witty juxtapositions and quirky timbral effects. The theme is tossed among different groups of instruments in the third variation, then woven through a bluesy prism. The saxophone plays a languidly beautiful, rhapsodic solo, which is then taken up by the tuba in the fifth variation, and the sixth features explosive percussion. An eerie trumpet solo in the eighth variation and a frenzy of string pizzicatos in the ninth lead to the re-emergence of the theme in the triumphant, throbbing Finale fugato.

The disc also includes Mr. Ruders’s Violin Concerto No. 1 (1981), a homage to Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” that reveals Mr. Ruders’s Minimalist affinities. The soloist’s frenetic line in the first movement, which Erik Heide plays with flair, unfolds over repetitive figurations and rhythms and the moody harmonies from the first movement of Vivaldi’s “Winter” concerto. After the elegiac second movement, which Mr. Heide performs sensitively, comes the finale, “Winter Chaconne,” which veers between exuberance and introspection.

Mathias Reumert is the able soloist in the brooding “Monodrama” (1988), a percussion concerto that Mr. Ruders describes as “pretty grim.” Apocalyptic might be a better description of the manner in which the percussionist, accompanied by dark orchestral rumblings, pounds his way through to a stark conclusion. VIVIEN SCHWEITZER

Andras Schiff, pianist. ECM New Series 2001; two CDs.

ANDRAS SCHIFF has been busy in recent seasons performing the Beethoven sonatas, but if you attended installments of the cycle at Carnegie Hall, you got glimpses of his next project. As encores he played Bach partitas: not just the odd movement, but whole works. And in September 2007 he recorded all six partitas at a single recital in Neumarkt, Germany.

This is Mr. Schiff’s second traversal of these works on disc; the first was a 1983 studio recording for Decca that was highly regarded in its day, and still is, but that sounds positively dumpy beside this vigorously played, beautifully recorded ECM version.

Mr. Schiff’s tempos are brisker and harder driven now, and the clarity of texture that has long been his hallmark is greatly magnified: his articulation could hardly be sharper, and his ability to sustain it through a performance of all six works in one sitting is extraordinary.

At times his seemingly endless well of energy can seem overbearing. Mr. Schiff’s careful balancing of Bach’s lines within fast-moving movements seems to have an intellectual severity that overrides the music’s visceral joys. And though the dance movements here were not meant to be danced, they should be taken at danceable tempos. A dancer trying to keep up with Mr. Schiff in, for example, the Gigue in the A minor Partita, would probably collapse, gasping, before the double bar.

Mr. Schiff also has a light side- his minuets are consistently spirited and bright. His subtly shaded accounts of the relaxed Praeludium of the B flat Partita, several of the sarabandes and the Tempo di Gavotta of the E minor Partita are pictures of elegance and transparency. Those qualities stay with you, along with Mr. Schiff’s fastidious focus.

——————

Related Resources

Arrive safely

Whether you’re driving at 32-note speed or adagio, there is no excuse for safe driving. Learning how to arrive at the concert hall safely does not have to sap your time. In NY, defensive driving online classes are on the rise and becoming rapidly more popular. If you don’t have time or money to waste, but still recognize the extreme importance of safety, look into an online defensive driving course.

Graceful front doors

A beautiful front door is a perfect accent to a home- like an awe-inspiring opening movement. Consider a higher quality entry door for your own house or business, and you will be amazed at the difference every time you arrive. Whether your taste is for glass or wood entry doors, wave good-bye to your plain, boring entrance and prepare for a more luxurious lifestyle.

Protect your invalid loved ones

If you fear that someone you trust is not treating the loved one you put in their care properly, you may be in need of an NYC elder care abuse law firm. Victims may not always be forthcoming, and it is difficult to spot patient abuse- but elder abuse is a widespread problem. If you suspect this may be an issue, contact a Brooklyn nursing home abuse lawyer to find out what your family’s options are.