BACH / BRAHMS / GALUPPI / ALBENIZ / etc
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli - The Early Recordings 1 Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli (piano) [ Naxos Historical / CD - released 27/Oct/2008 ] "Was Michelangeli's best playing his earliest? Here's a remarkable artist - overwhelmingly masterful in Brahms's Paganini Variations, engaging in Bach, poetic in Scarlatti, impulsive and haunting in Granados and Albéniz" Five Stars BBC Music |
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli
Grieg/Schumann: Piano Concerto [ Naxos Historical / CD - released 1/Oct/2012 ] |
BEETHOVEN / CHOPIN / MOZART
Early Recordings Vol. 2 Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli (piano) / Milan Pomeriggi Musici Symphony Orchestra / Ettore Gracis [ Naxos Historical Great Pianists / CD - released 1/Mar/2010 ] These works, all recorded in Milan by Michelangeli between the ages of 19 and 31, show a man at the beginning of his career as an already finished artist. One can only echo what a critic wrote in 1948, 'What a pianist! Technically, the playing is... |
Ashley Wass
Franck: Piano Works [ Naxos / CD ] |
ARNOLD BAX
Bax: Piano Works, Vol. 4-Music for 2 Pianos Ashley Wass, Martin Roscoe (pianos) [ Naxos / CD - released 3/Oct/2007 ] "If you know orchestral Bax you will have the measure of these scores. They are just as colourful and seductive and come across with so much life and sparkle that even the anti-Bax brigade must succumb to their manifold charms. Of course the success... |
ARNOLD BAX
Bax: Piano Sonatas Nos. 3 and 4 / Water Music / Winter Waters Ashley Wass (piano) [ Naxos / CD - released 18/Jun/2005 ] "Dedicated followers of Bax may have other favourite recordings of this repertoire to compare with, but for my ears, with its naturally balanced, warm recording, Wass's intelligent, agile playing does the composer's cause no harm at all." (musicWeb... |
FRANZ LISZT
Liszt: Complete Piano Music Volume 32 - Album d'un Voyageur Ashley Wass (piano) [ Naxos Liszt Piano Music / CD - released 30/Nov/2010 ] "Wass's command of the young Liszt's idiom engages both with its poetry and virtuosity: he underscores the contrasts of mood and tempo in 'Lyon', for instance, to articulate the broader design in a way that's highly effective." (BBC Music) |
EDWARD ELGAR
Elgar: Piano Music Ashley Wass (Piano) [ Naxos / CD - released 13/Oct/2006 ] Public recognition brought Elgar many honours, his position sealed by the composition of music for the coronation of King Edward VII. |
FRANK BRIDGE
Piano Music (Vol. 1) Ashley Wass (Piano) [ Naxos / CD - released 9/May/2006 ] "Wass demonstrates a tremendous feel for the whole range of Bridge's piano music: delicacy on the one hand and power on the other" (MusicWeb June 2006) |
WILLIAM ALWYN
Piano Music, Vol. 2 (Incls 12 Preludes) Ashley Wass (piano) [ Naxos / CD - released 10/Oct/2008 ] "Wass gives outstandingly sympathetic performances throughout and he has been granted eminently ripe and realistic sound. All in all, a most enjoyable CD." --Review by Andrew Achenbach, Gramophone |
WILLIAM ALWYN
Alwyn: Piano Music, Vol. 1 (Incls Sonata alla toccata & Fantasy Waltzes) Ashley Wass (piano) [ Naxos / CD - released 4/Jan/2008 ] Piano music featured prominently for the most part of Alwyn's career. The composer himself was no mean pianist, as evidenced in the varying technical demands made on the pianist in the works included here. The major work on this recording, Fantasy... |
ARNOLD BAX
Bax: Piano Music Vol 1 (Includes Sonatas for Piano Nos 1 & 2) Ashley Wass, piano [ Naxos / CD - released 10/Oct/2004 ] "Ashley Wass's Bax series for Naxos launches in auspicious fashion" Editor's Choice Gramophone Magazine Oct 2004 |
FRANCK
Piano Recital (Includes Prelude, Choral et Fugue) Ashley Wass (piano) [ Naxos Laureate Series / CD - released 1/Mar/2003 ] "Ashley Wass, winner of the World Piano Competition in London two years ago, is a thoroughly persuasive advocate of this music...[his] command of the music's intellectual and expressive thrust makes for compelling listening." - Geoffrey Norris, The... |
ARNOLD BAX
Piano Works Vol. 3 Ashley Wass (piano) [ Naxos / CD - released 12/Mar/2006 ] Arnold Bax wrote nearly thirty short piano pieces during and immediately after the First World War. It was through the keyboard that Arnold Bax came to music. |
ARNOLD BAX
Bax: Symphonic Variations / Concertante for Piano Left Hand Ashley Wass (piano) / Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra / James Judd [ Naxos / CD - released 1/May/2009 ] "The young pianist Ashley Wass play[s] impeccably - not only stylishly, but also with subtle, expressive shading and lovely liquid tone quality." The Independent |
ARNOLD BAX
Bax: Winter Legends / Morning Song (Maytime in Sussex) / Saga Fragment Ashley Wass (piano) / Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra / James Judd [ Naxos / CD - released 30/Jun/2011 ] "Naxos' recording captures the full range of the music (it's pretty wide), yet maintains clarity even in the tutti passages. Bax fans will find much to enjoy in this release." (10/10 ClassicsToday July 2011) |
FRANK BRIDGE
Bridge: Piano Trios Nos. 1 and 2 / etc Ashley Wass (piano) Jack Liebeck (violin) Alexander Chaushian (cello) [ Naxos / CD - released 1/Mar/2009 ] Frank Bridge's reputation as the teacher of his most famous student, Benjamin Britten, has long hindered appreciation of his own impeccably crafted music. Between the early Phantasie Trio (1907) and Miniatures (1908) and the masterful Piano Trio No.... |
ARNOLD BAX / FRANK BRIDGE
Bax/Bridge: Piano Quintets Ashley Wass (piano) The Tippett Quartet [ Naxos / CD - released 1/Nov/2010 ] "Exceptional performances of two outstanding British chamber works. The Bax work is epic in scope, tumultuous and wild; lyrical and nostalgic. Bridge's early lyrical yet occasionally turbulent Quintet includes some gorgeous melodies." MusicWeb |
Jesús VILLA-ROJO
Villa-Rojo: Music for Cello: Sonata 2 / Lamento / Oracion serena / Expresiones Asier Polo (cello), Amaia Zipitria (piano), Rafael Romero 'el Gallina' (vocals), Gerardo Lopez Laguna (piano) [ Naxos / CD - released 1/Nov/2011 ] Jesús Villa-Rojo is one of Spain's most impressive contemporary composers, and writes masterfully for the cello...Cellist Asier Polo is closely identified with this music and is "as authoritative as could be". |
PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY
Tchaikovsky: Ballet Suites, Transcribed for Piano Four Hands Aurora Duo (piano) [ Naxos / CD - released 20/Oct/2009 ] It is astonishing to recall that five years after the première of Swan Lake, one of the greatest of all Russian ballets, and of Tchaikovsky's three full-length ballets the one with the greatest number of memorable tunes, the composer wrote to his... |