BEST CDs. BEST RECORDINGS:
CLASSICAL
MUSIC
From the Desk of Irma
Panayotti
His recording of Liszt's piano music received a Grand Prix du Disque from
the Liszt Society of Budapest, while his widely-acclaimed 10-CD recording of
all thirty-two Beethoven sonatas was nominated for a Juno Award. In 1998
Robert Silverman was named the first winner of the Paul de Hueck and Norman
Walford Career Achievement Award for Keyboard Artistry, administered by the
Ontario Arts Council Foundation, in recognition of "his high level of
artistry, his moving interpretations of a wide range of music...and his
commitment and contribution to music in Canada." His recent projects include
an eight-concert series encompassing all thirty-two Beethoven sonatas. The
cycle has been performed in several locations, including Toronto, Seattle,
Winnipeg, and Vancouver's Chan Centre for the Performing Arts. He will
perform the cycle at the Washington Conservatory in Washington DC during
March and April of 2004. Robert Silverman resides in Vancouver where he was
a faculty member at the University of British Columbia for thirty years, and
served a 5-year term as Director of the School of Music in the 1990s. He
resigned his post as of July 2003 in order to devote himself to full-time
concertizing and recording. He is frequently heard on the CBC network, he
plays Steinway pianos, and records for EMI, Stereophile,
OrpheumMasters, CBC Records and Marquis Classics. He has recently
been appointed Artist-in-Residence at The Koffler Centre of the Arts School
of Music in Toronto.
Photo:
Rebecca Penneys, Piano, Jacques Israelievitch,
Violin, Arie Lipsky, Cello.
NEW ARTS TRIO
In Recital At Chautaqua
(Fleur de Son Classics)
When the Toronto Symphony
Orchestra opens its season Wednesday at Roy Thomson Hall, the last player to
walk onstage will be Jacques Israelievitch, its concertmaster since 1988 and
one of the most versatile violinists in the country, with a discography to
his credit of solo and chamber as well as orchestral work. In addition to a
solo album, he has recently released his latest chamber disc for Fleur de
Son Classics, teaming up with Arie Lipsky, former principal cellist of the
Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, and pianist Rebecca Penneys of the Eastman
School of Music in Rochester as the New Arts Trio. In addition to capable
readings of Beethoven's Trio In D Major, Op. 70, No.1 (the so-called
Ghost Trio) and Brahms' Trio In B Major, Op. 8, No.1, the
album, recorded at the Chautauqua Institute in western New York, is
particularly notable for its inclusion of three offbeat shorter works: Arvo
Pärt's arrangement of Mozart's Adagio, K.280 from the Piano Sonata
In F Major, Astor Piazzolla's La Muerte del angel (Death Of The Angel)
and Ernest Bloch's Three Nocturnes.-Willi Litter
The NEW ARTS TRIO has
firmly established itself as one of America's most distinguished piano
trios. Since its inception in 1974, the Trio has performed in major cities
throughout the United States and Canada including Washington, Boston,
Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans,
Denver, Phoenix, San Francisco, Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal. In New
York City the NEW ARTS TRIO has appeared at Alice Tully Hall, the 92nd St.
'Y,' and Carnegie Hall's Weil Recital Hall. The TRIO has also made several
tours of eastern and western Europe. The NEW ARTS TRIO has been in residence
at the Chautauqua Institution since 1978. During the seven week festival
they perform, present master classes, coach chamber music and teach students
who come to study with them from all over the world. The TRIO has three CD's
on Fleur De Son Classics: the Arensky Trios and Beethoven's Arrangements for
Piano Trio (2nd Symphony and the Septet), and New Arts Trio in Recital at
Chautauqua (works by Beethoven, Brahms, Bloch, Part and Piazzola). “The Trio
played with big tone, supple phrasing, energy, and a romantic ensemble in
which individualism and teamwork were balanced.” The New Yorker
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