Janacek intimate letters with Lada Valesova on Spotify

Lada Valesovà was an unknown name to me, but came my way via this tweet. That Dumka recording is not on spottily yet (hèllo Avie…!), but it made me listen to the cd below, called Intimate Letters.  Lada studied at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, London, where she now lectures. In the past she won the admiration of artists like Georg Solti and Mstislav Rostropovich and performed @ Wigmore hall in London.
The first item from the Janáček „in the mist cycle” passed by with a gentle nod, but the second and third caught my attention. Active, crisp phrasing and a clear feeling for the idiom of this music. Second Janáček cycle on the recording is the posthumus „Intimate studies”, a collection of short pieces ranging from 1876 till 1928.

The remainder of the recording is filled by works of other Tsjech composers; the tragically short lives Pavel Haas (classy suite), Bohuslav Martinu (short hommages to popular culture) and the son-in-law of Antonin Dvorak, Josef Suk (hyper-romantic in the cycle „spring”), all played with panache and guts.

Hope you will enjoy this recording as well!

Leoš Janáček (1854 – 1928)
-In the Mist, piano cycle in four movements (1911/1912)
-Intimate Studies (1876/1928)
Pavel Haas (1899 – 1944)
-Suite for Piano Op. 13 (1935)
-Allegro moderato (1938)
Bohuslav Martinů (1890 – 1959)
-Film en Miniature H.148 (1925)
-Spring (1921)
Josef Suk (1874 – 1935)
-Spring, piano cycle in five movements (1902)

Lada Valešová - Piano



http://open.spotify.com/user/otterhouse/playlist/3dHYar6ffD2MfnHrcU6c09 (HTTP link)

Quirine Viersen on Spotify - Hummel Beethoven Haydn Martinu

Confession. Last year I only bought two CD's. I know, support the artists, make sure CD's can still be made, but fact of the matter is, the last 20 years I bought more silver discs than I can listen to and services like YouTube, the MP3 based free Concerthuis concert archive, Concertzender and Spotify all have made it quite hard to buy new CD's... What I bought was at a concert of Dutch cellist Quirine Viersen, her Globe recording of all Bach's cello suites. In a masterclass she once had with Yo-Yo Ma, she played him one of the parts and after hearing it he prompted "can I marry you"? Well, She refused (how could she?? :-) and went on with her career.

Guess what? Not -everything- in on Spotify, the Bach Suite still have to be uploaded (but other Globe CD's are already there...)
 
For what ìs available on Spotify from Quirine I picked out a favorite work of mine, the cello sonata in A-major op 104 by Mozart/Haydn/Salieri pupil (talk about an education...!) Johann Nepomuk Hummel. It is said that this was one of the models for Brahms first sonata op 38. Pianist here is Silke Avenhaus. Then, the Haydn Cello concert in C- major and (because I love this weird work by the same composer) the 60'th symphony in C- major nicknamed "il distratto” or, "the confusion". I'm not a big fan of conductor Jan Willem de Vriend, but this is one of his better recordings. 
Finally, from an other CD with Silke Avenhaus, Beethoven’s 5th cello sonata in D-Major, op 102 and the „Slovaque variations” by Bohuslav Martinu.

Johann Nepomuk Hummel - Cello Sonata A-Major op 104
Quirine Viersen, Cello - Silke Avenhaus, Piano

Joseph Haydn - Cello concerto in C-Major
Symphony no 60 in C-Major "il distratto”
Quirine Viersen, Cello - Combattimento Concerto, Jan-Willem de Vriend

Ludwig van Beethoven - Cello sonata no 5 in D-Major op 102
Bohuslav Martinu - „Slovaque variations” for Cello and Piano
Quirine Viersen, Cello - Silke Avenhaus, Piano

Hope you will enjoy the recordings!

http://open.spotify.com/user/otterhouse/playlist/0EZZtt1FuExDZ62oj9VnKk

(HTTP link)