By gmms
17-Oct-2009

Great vperformances - lovely to get the CHANDOS label via Classicsonline!  

Inspired by the excellent Scherbakov Respighi recordings, I was extremely happy to see that another champion of neglected repertory - Geoffrey Tozer - had also recorded these concertos.

Respighi's style is an amalgam of many influences - Bach, Prokofiev, Debussy, Albeniz, Bartok and a touch of Rachmaninov - all spring to (my!) mind at different times. But just to detect elements of other composers in his music is to do him an enormous disservice. He writes absolutely wonderful music.

Tozer's performances are brilliant as always. Tozer takes the pieces much slower than Scherbakov. They lose some of the relentless intensity that Scherbakov brings to some passages, but this also allows some of the more lyrical passages to breathe more freely. The second movement of the Concerto in Modo Misolidio is a particularly fine example of the benefits of Tozer's approach. I couldn't decide between the 2, so in the end I got both!
more....

By gmms
17-Oct-2009

Great vperformances - lovely to get the CHANDOS label via Classicsonline!  

Inspired by the excellent Scherbakov Respighi recordings, I was extremely happy to see that another champion of neglected repertory - Geoffrey Tozer - had also recorded these concertos.

Respighi's style is an amalgam of many influences - Bach, Prokofiev, Debussy, Albeniz, Bartok and a touch of Rachmaninov - all spring to (my!) mind at different times. But just to detect elements of other composers in his music is to do him an enormous disservice. He writes absolutely wonderful music.

Tozer's performances are brilliant as always. Tozer takes the pieces much slower than Scherbakov. They lose some of the relentless intensity that Scherbakov brings to some passages, but this also allows some of the more lyrical passages to breathe more freely. The second movement of the Concerto in Modo Misolidio is a particularly fine example of the benefits of Tozer's approach. I couldn't decide between the 2, so in the end I got both!
more....

By gmms
17-Oct-2009

Great vperformances - lovely to get the CHANDOS label via Classicsonline!  

Inspired by the excellent Scherbakov Respighi recordings, I was extremely happy to see that another champion of neglected repertory - Geoffrey Tozer - had also recorded these concertos.

Respighi's style is an amalgam of many influences - Bach, Prokofiev, Debussy, Albeniz, Bartok and a touch of Rachmaninov - all spring to (my!) mind at different times. But just to detect elements of other composers in his music is to do him an enormous disservice. He writes absolutely wonderful music.

Tozer's performances are brilliant as always. Tozer takes the pieces much slower than Scherbakov. They lose some of the relentless intensity that Scherbakov brings to some passages, but this also allows some of the more lyrical passages to breathe more freely. The second movement of the Concerto in Modo Misolidio is a particularly fine example of the benefits of Tozer's approach. I couldn't decide between the 2, so in the end I got both!
more....