Schumann’s second sonata for violin and piano was written a few weeks after the first. The composer declared: ‘I didn’t like the first violin sonata, so I wrote a second, which I hope turned out better’. Clara certainly liked it, finding it ‘wonderfully original, with a depth and magnificence that I have hardly ever known before’. Also set in a...

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Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s work Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince) has enchanted and perhaps disturbed its readers, whether young or not so young, since its first appearance in 1943. Voted as the ‘Best Book of the 20th Century’ by the French public it has been animated, turned into ballet, dramatized, made into television and cinematic movies;...

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In 2006 the Swiss company Claves embarked on a collaboration with the Clara Haskil Competition to record all the piano music of Schumann. To date, Volumes 1 and 3, played by Finghin Collins, Vol 4 by Francesco Pietmontesi, Vols 2 and 5 and now Vol 6 all by Cédric Pescia have appeared. Pescia’s discography is already remarkably broad, ranging fro...

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A volte, concentrati sull’interprete vocale e sulla fisionomia che ci restituisce del Viandante, tendiaquanto significativa e ardita sia la scrittura strumentale della Winterreise. Un pianista della personalità di Michel Dalberto (qui assecondato da un sontuoso Bôsendorfer Imperial) è invece l’ideale per rammentarci, ad esempio, l’incredibile mo...

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Il n’est pas certain qu’on se soit rendu compte lors de la parution en 2011 de cet enregistrement, sous forme de livre-disque chez le merveilleux éditeur suisse la Dogana, de sa parfaite singularité. Il se pourrait bien qu’il s’agisse là d’une des versions les plus intransigeantes du Voyage d’hiver. Michel Dalberto offre une lecture mâle, enfiév...

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Stephan Genz has the melting phrasing and a good deal of the vocal quality of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, and those looking for a recording that follows in the footsteps of the king of German baritones may gravitate toward this Swiss release for that reason. This said, the cumulative effect of Genz's cycle is quite different from that of Fischer-D...

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Dieser Zyklus »schauerlicher Lieder«, wie Schubert ihn selbst genannt hat, gehört zu den Prüfsteinen großer Baritone, wie auch der andere große Liederzyklus Schuberts, »Die schöne Müllerin«. Denn er stellt besondere Anforderungen an Technik un Interpretation. Die „Winterreise“ besteht aus 24 Liedern, die Schubert im Herbst 1827, also ein Jahr vo...

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