Urlicht AudioVisual News

Category: reviews

  • “As Louis Armstrong said, all music is folk music”

    “As Louis Armstrong said, all music is folk music”

    Ethan Iverson on Miranda Cuckson‘s new double CD/download “Világ”:
    “Miranda Cuckson has always impressed with an effortless command of the hardest modern music. I first heard her on the 2014 album Melting the Darkness, which opens with the dumbfounding “Mikka S” by Iannis Xenakis. It’s an incredibly difficult piece, but Cuckson sounds like she’s crooning a blues lullaby. … Is [Franco Donatoni‘s ‘Argot’] really folk music, you ask? Yes it is, at least in the hands of Miranda Cuckson, who plays the Donatoni as if it was written for her. As Louis Armstrong said, all music is folk music. … Less expected is Stewart Goodyear’s contribution. “Solo” from 2022 is downright down-home, a fiddler in a pub offering tales of a bygone age. I am utterly taken with Goodyear’s harmonic conception. (I had heard Goodyear’s name as a concert pianist, but had no idea he was this kind of composer.)”
    – Ethan Iverson, Transitional Technology
    Miranda’s new recording, Világ, is available for HD streaming and download, and as a double-CD set.
  • “extraordinary playing”

    “extraordinary playing”

    “It’s also illuminating, not only for its compositional diversity but for Cuckson’s extraordinary playing. In featuring violin alone, her virtuosity, dexterity, and command of intonation and phrasing are on full display, and the performances mesmerize. … Cuckson’s playing is always compelling and never less than transfixing. Anyone who might think nearly 100 minutes of unaccompanied violin might be less than engaging will be otherwise enlightened by Világ. If anything, hearing her performing alone allows for an enhanced appreciation of her singular artistry.”
    – Textura

    Available for streaming, for download, and on CD!

  • Praise for Parnassus’ Reissue of Haendel and Hassid

    Praise for Parnassus’ Reissue of Haendel and Hassid

    Urlicht AudioVisual’s remastering for Parnassus Records of recordings by Josef Hassid (his entire recorded legacy) and Ida Haendel (in some of her first recordings) receives strong praise in the June issue of Gramophone:

    “Finally, a disc of encores recorded by then-young Polish-Jewish violinists Josef Hassid and Ida Haendel, in 1940 and 1948-53, sympathetically accompanied by Gerald Moore. Hassid, described by Moore as ‘the greatest instrumental genius I’ve ever partnered‘, plays with a sure technique and gleaming tone a range of pieces including by Tchaikovsky, Elgar, Kreisler and Achron. Sadly his career abruptly collapsed the following year, as he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Handel, almost as impressive a player, offers a more adventurous mix, including a : piece by Tartini and contemporary works by Bartók and Copland.
    “The transfers are smooth and one quickly adjusts to the mono sound.”
    Parnassus PACL 95011 ****
    – Daniel Jaffé, Gramophone

    Click here to stream, download, or order in CD format!

  • Remastering Toscha

    Remastering Toscha

    “It is simply amazing that someone with Tosha Seidel’s enormous talent should have died at the age of sixty-three in complete obscurity after a career that took him all over the world starting at the age of sixteen. Fortunately, this Parnassus release begins to address the neglect the Ukrainian Jewish virtuoso has endured for such a long time.” — Rafael de Acha, All About the Arts

    “The lack of [Toscha Seidel’s] recordings in the catalogue is simply baffling and that’s where this succinct 79-minute selection comes in handy. The recordings date from 1918 to 1929 with the exception of the 1945 Chausson. They reveal his vibrant tone and sensual aura as well as his communicative slides (in Achron’s Hebrew Melody). His Kreisler is manly, irreproachably self-confident and oozes tonal lustre and allure, elastically phrased (Schön Rosmarin), vibrantly vibrated and fulsome, with gorgeous double stops (Ave Maria). These are electrically recorded and amongst the best sounding Seidel recordings, revealing the full panoply of his variegated tonal resources. Thereafter there is a long series of predominantly acoustic discs. … If you need a standout piece, amongst many standouts, try Mischa Elman’s arrangement of Ständchen where Seidel’s lustrous, singing tone is under perfect control and beautifully equalized throughout the scale; one of the great violin records. But so many Seidel records are like that; memorable, beautiful and unique in depth of tonal beauty. … This disc fulfils a necessary gap admirably, restoring Seidel’s recordings – but by no means all his recordings – in fine style.” – Jonathan Woolf, MusicWeb

    Leslie Gerber’s enterprising Parnassus Records already was among my favorite historic reissue labels well before Leslie teamed up with my friends at Alto Distribution to make his recordings more easily obtainable. When they approached us about the possibility of doing some audio restoration work involving recording of the great Toscha Seidel, we immediately agreed to undertake the work.

    We were fortunate to collaborate with veteran collector Raymond Glaspole, who transferred a number of Seidel 78s (from his own collection, in excellent condition) to digital format; the remaining sources were transferred at Urlicht AudioVisual, on loan from other collectors. The electrical studio recordings needed little  work, but some of the acoustic 78s presented challenges, yet yielded better results than we had anticipated, with a much lower noise level that sacrifices none of Seidel’s signature tone. Though Chausson’s Poème derives from a broadcast transcription with somewhat limited frequency response and distant orchestral miking, the result of restoration reveals a passionate performance with two artists at their expressive finest.

    “Toscha Seidel – Rare and Newly Remastered” is available now. You can find links for streaming and CD purchase here.

  • The Strad praises Miranda Cuckson’s Invisible Colors

    The Strad praises Miranda Cuckson’s Invisible Colors

    “Eloquent and elegant advocate for knottily complex music” — read David Kettle’s full review at The Strad.

    HD download available from mEyeFi.
    Streaming on Spotify and iTunes.
    Available on CD at Import CDs, Amazon, and ArkivMusic.

  • ‘Put Up Your Dukes!’

    ‘Put Up Your Dukes!’

    One of Amazon’s top classical reviewers, Ralph Lockwood, declares a winner:

    [Violinist Elmira] Darvarova conquers all the challenges like a true “Champ.” Muhammed Ali’s famous boast to “float like a butterfly [so many suave and elegant moments!] and sting like a bee” (when punch and intensity are required) would be an apposite analogy.
    This is a sheer KNOCKOUT performance!!
    Come on all you Concertmasters out there: start twisting your conductors’ collective arms and batons to program this voluptuous and engaging concerto. There is an audience hungry for this music.

    Order the CD directly from Urlicht AudioVisual – $14.99 [simpleecommcart_add_to_cart id=”8″]

    Download the Apple Lossless Version – iTunes Ready, with full .pdf liner notes and cue sheet for non-Apples portables – $9.99 [simpleecommcart_add_to_cart id=”5″]

    Download the FLAC Lossless Version – with full .pdf liner notes and cue sheet for most portables – $9.99 [simpleecommcart_add_to_cart id=”6″]

    Download the mp3Version – iTunes Ready,better sound quality than Amazon or iTunes, with full .pdf liner notes and cue sheet for non-Apples portables – $9.39 [simpleecommcart_add_to_cart id=”7″]

    Vernon Duke

    Violin Concerto (1940-41)1
    Sonata in D for violin and piano (1948-49)2
    Etude for violin and bassoon3
    Hommage to Offenbach2
    Capriccio Méxicano2

    Elmira Darvarova, violin

    Scott Dunn, 1conductor and 2piano
    1ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien
    3Kim Laskowski, bassoon

    Produced by Elmira Darvarova, Scott Dunn, and Erich Hofmann
    Executive producres: Kay Duke Ingalls and Gene Gaudette
    Co-executive producer: Nancy Burgin

    Urlicht AudioVisual UAV-CD-5990

  • ‘Deeply Loveable Music’

    ‘Deeply Loveable Music’

    Arts Desk reviews Pascal Rogé et ses amis | Poulenc:

    There’s far more to this composer than breezy high spirits, and anyone encountering his music for the first time through this disc would get an unusually balanced impression of Poulenc. Les Biches and the Concerto for Two Pianos aren’t the whole story. … Excellent performances of deeply loveable music, captured in rich, velvety sound.

    Read the full review here.

    Order the CD directly from Urlicht AudioVisual.[simpleecommcart_add_to_cart id=”14″]
    Downloads available from Amazon and iTunes.