Matt Haimovitz / Mari Kodama MON AMI, MON AMOUR

 

MON AMI, MON AMOUR

 

Mari Kodama KALEIDOSCOPE

                                                  BEETHOVEN TRANSCRIPTIONS

Mari Kodama / Kent Nagano / Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin BEETHOVEN Piano Concertos 0 - 5

                                                         PIANO CONCERTOS 0 - 5

Mari & Momo Kodama / Sarah & Deborah Nemtanu MARTINU Double Concertos for Violin & Piano

Bohuslav Martinů’s distinctive musical voice, which infuses the great Czech tradition with modern idioms, is showcased in this captivating survey of his concertante works, performed by the Orchestre Philharmonique de Marseille conducted by Lawrence Foster. 

The Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra is a lively and rhythmic tour de force. Breezily energetic and relentless, it is full of jazzy inflections and high speed fireworks, pausing only in the tranquillity of the slow movement for moments of serene calm. By contrast, the Concerto for Two Violins and Orchestra is a warm, lyrical work in the Romantic tradition. With its intricate and interweaving solo lines, expansive melodies and dance-like syncopations it’s an engaging work of considerable charm which deserves a wider audience. The Rhapsody-Concerto for Viola and Orchestra is a dreamily nostalgic work whose simple melodies, radiant lyricism and soaring viola line make it one of the 20th century’s most performed viola concertos.

Mari Kodama LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN The Complete Piano Sonatas

The waiting has finally paid off: the complete Beethoven piano sonata cycle has finally arrived. Japanese pianist Mari Kodama is only the fourth woman to have recorded all of Beethoven’s sonatas (Pizzicato). Although not the first with this achievement, the very idea that an artist can play this music and still introduce a new perspective, as Kodama so often proves with her performances, is astonishing.

As Gramophone eloquently phrases it: ‘Never bearing down heavily on the music, she always allows Beethoven his own voice.’ After starting the recordings in 2003, Mari Kodama completed the final piece in 2013. Once again Ms. Kodama meets all expectations in the pursuit of these horizons, and she entirely takes on the challenge with the last instalment of her critically-acclaimed journey through this ever-fascinating cycle. It is then only fair that this feat is celebrated in the form of a collector’s item SACD box set with its larger-than-life surround sound.

One can’t have too many Beethoven sonata cycles in their library when the performance is this fabulous and the surround sound is just to die for.

[CD 1 -CD 2 - CD 3]

There seems to be a broad divergence of opinion with regard to Beethoven sonata interpretation, and a handful of pundits out there seem to be of the opinion that Ms. Kodama doesn’t inflict enough of her own character into her readings here. Here’s my opinion: hogwash! Mari Kodama obviously knows her Beethoven, and her readings are filled with superb technique and tons of emotion. (Tom Gibbs)

[CD 4 - CD 5 - CD 6]

Among the many qualities of this interpretation, two stand out in particular: first, the tempi, the importance of which is never denied. At first, some strike the ear, more accustomed to an automatic reaction that is almost a caricature – but none cast her particular approach into doubt. Mari Kodama’s sincerity of choice ends by convincing us. Second, the pianist never avoids harsh sounds – these ‘imperfections’ of detail that are completely Beethovian – nor does she look to exaggerate them: the colours she obtains recall as much Haydn (the simple expressiveness of Opus 26) as Stravinsky (the attacks in the ‘Hammerklavier”). Mari Kodama does not enclose Beethoven in an “Épinal” romanticism, but lets his music, this prodigy of history, slide into timelessness.  (ResMusica)
[CD 7 - CD 8 - CD 9]

Orchestre de la Suisse Romande / Kazuki Yamada DE FALLA Noches en los Jardines de España - El Sombrero de Tres Picos

Manuel de Falla’s richly evocative music erupts in a riot of colour in this vibrant new recording from 

Kazuki Yamada with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. Works included are the ever popular Noches en los jardines de España and El sombrero de tres picos as well as movements from La vida breve and El amor brujo.
The sultry warm atmosphere of an Andalusian night is almost palpable in Falla’s spellbinding Noches en los jardines de España. With its shimmering, sensuous harmonies, exquisite orchestral colours and exuberant melodies and rhythms, it’s perhaps Falla’s most impressionistic work. Using a large orchestral canvas on which he paints with deft, luminous strokes, Falla skilfully integrates a virtuoso piano part to create lovingly evocative music, full of captivating beauty.
Elsewhere with the sensational ballet El sombrero de tres picos, Falla conjures up music steeped in Andalusian culture which is boisterous, full-bloodied, and urgent. It’s impossible not to be swept along by the drama in this orchestral showpiece. By turns lyrical, sensuous, or dramatic, the meticulously written score is full of surprises and the work positively bristles with wit, energy and exuberant intensity. 

Yamada’s previous recordings with the OSR for PENTATONE have been widely praised – “Exquisite and passionate … grace abounds” (BBC Music Magazine), “tastefully refined” (Gramophone). For their more recent release of music by Roussel, Debussy and Poulenc, HRAudio.net noted Yamada’s “exuberant performance” and the OSR “playing …[with] tremendous vitality and enthusiasm, as if their very lives depended on it.”
The pianist Mari Kodama has established an international reputation for profound musicality and articulate virtuosity and has recorded extensively for PENTATONE. Her most recent release with her sister Momo Kodama, a sizzling account of Tchaikovsky ballets, was praised by The Guardian for its “sparkle and style” and described by Artamag as “…a very exciting recording, a ‘labour of love’ by two extraordinary pianists.”
Frequently in demand as an interpreter of Mozart’s works, the mezzo soprano Sophie Harmsen is a regular performer in large international festivals.  (Pentatone)

Mari Kodama / Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin / Kent Nagano BEETHOVEN The Piano Concertos - Triple Concerto

On the evidence of this set, the husband-and-wife team of Mari Kodama and Kent Nagano enjoy a keen musical rapport. This may not be the greatest or most pristine Beethoven piano concerto cycle on the CD market but it’s pretty good. Try the bold way Kodama tackles her initial entry on the first movement of the First Concerto, while the cadenza is strongly projected (I love the cheeky little arpeggio just before the close), even if some minor detail is lost in the fray, ie in the down figurations at around 12’55”. The Largo is feelingly played and the closing Rondo whizzes along nicely, the odd hurried turn notwithstanding.

The first-movement cadenza of the Second Concerto is perhaps rather earthbound and I wasn’t too sure about the way Kodama gate-crashes the close of the Third Concerto’s initial tutti with her first entry. Then again, at 2’23” into the Largo, her handling of the second set delivers poetry to spare, while her almost imperceptible easing into the closing rondo marks a definite climate change without breaking the spell. The same CD features an affable reading of the Triple Concerto, Nagano proving himself the ideal master of ceremonies, his tempos lively but never overstretched, his manner warmly accommodating without abandoning the limelight. The opening tutti is a fair case in point, Johannes Moser’s first entry quietly mellifluous, Kolja Blacher bowing a bright, silvery line. Thereafter we’re talking chamber music writ large, both soloists sounding in happy accord, Nagano an obvious soulmate. The central ‘song without words’ (which is how the Largo has always struck me) holds fast to a sense of intimacy, the closing Rondo alla polacca a perfectly happy summation, if without the smiling demeanour of, say, the Argerich, Capuçon, Maisky recording.

The Fourth Concerto is nicely done though the Andante con moto’s imploring central cadenza sounds a little prosaic. Best of all is the Emperor’s finale, which lilts along seemingly without a care in the world. Here Kodama is at her best. As to where this set stands in the firmament of great Beethoven concerto recordings, I’d say not terribly high. Pollini with Abbado, Fleisher with Szell, Aimard with Harnoncourt – to name just three obvious rival contenders – all have more to tell us about the music. (Rob Cowan / Gramophone)

Mari Kodama / Momo Kodama TCHAIKOVSKY Ballet Suites for Piano Duo

Together for the first time in the recording studio, the sisters Mari and Momo Kodama are on scintillating form in these lively arrangements of music from Tchaikovsky’s ballets Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty and Nutcracker. In another first, the release contains the first ever recording of Arensky’s transcription of the timeless Nutcracker together with notable arrangements by Debussy and Rachmaninov. 

Conceived on a grand scale, Tchaikovsky’s colourful, often passionate scores for the ballets Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty and Nutcracker abound with graceful melodies, arresting harmonies and exuberant orchestration. The music has proved enduringly popular with audiences and rates among his most familiar and best-loved works. Composers such as Arensky, Debussy and Rachmaninov made arrangements of these works for piano, not mere reductions but wholesale realisations of the works, combining subtlety and insight with their own technical polish. 

“Tchaikovsky was really the first composer to combine a broad sweep of ballet music with a great story,” the Kodama sisters write in their introduction to the release, “before that, it more resembled a compilation of pieces…in all three works there is folkloric and popular music. He has the great skill to make such vivid colours and textures on a large canvas… This makes his orchestral works very special.”

“Our challenge was to use just two pianos … to bring the same sense of scale,” they write, “with just two pianos the atmosphere is more intimate, it brings a different quality to the music. And the composers who made the transcriptions brought their own personality to bear on the works. So we tried to reflect that in our playing.”
The sisters Mari and Momo Kodama both pursue busy international careers. Momo specialises in French and Japanese composers and 20th century and contemporary composers; she has been widely praised for her ‘attractive, lyrical tone’ and ‘technical brilliance’. Mari has established an international reputation for profound musicality and articulate virtuosity; she has recorded extensively for PENTATONE, including an acclaimed cycle of the complete Beethoven piano sonatas.
“We are quite different pianists and have our own ideas and approaches,” they write, “so we have spirited discussions. But we always find we are aiming for the same thing, usually from a different angle. So it’s been fun to record these works and it has brought us a lot of sisterly joy too!”  (PENTATONE)