I was browsing Youtube and came across Mr. Bavouzet. Being a long time fan of the great pianists, I was struck by his interpretations of Debussy.

I immediately went to ClassicsOnline and bought this album. While Horowitz was the master of quiet, Bavouzet is a master of dynamics without compromising the nuances that are imperative to these impressionistic works.

I especially have a fondness for Serenade for a Doll and The Snow is Dancing. Each piece highlights different characteristics of his style. Serenade which requires wonderful control and delicacy, and The Snow with its complex and powerful rhythms.

Bavouzet conquers them both and compels me to obtain the other albums in this series.

Coming from a Klezmer music background I was greatly attracted to the sound of this album. The melodies are pure and the music in general does not have a studio-like sound over it. It sounds like it is recorded straight from the streets, as in real and as the music is meant to be. The track Egy Par is my favorite one, to me it has the classical elements of Hungarian folk music in it. From fast and happy tunes to slow and emotional, I can really recommend this album.

I've learned Barber's First Symphony from an old recording with Howard Hanson and the Eastman Rochester Orchestra. As I recall it was a bit scrappy but still quite potent. I found the more recent recording by Leonard Slatkin and the St. Louis Symphony to be better played, but the interpretation was somewhat bland.

This recording by Martin Alsop and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra gives us the best of both worlds, in a finely wrought and blazingly intense performance that captures all of the drama without slighting the more tender moments, like the achingly beautiful oboe solo that open the slow movement.