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Category: CD Reviews

Pianist. Sauer Vol.6

February 13, 2015
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PIANIST No. 19 SAUER Complete Piano Music, Volume 6 Piano Concerto No 2 in C minor. Galop de concert. Cinq Morceaux de Difficulte moyenne. Petite Scene de ballet. Menuet Vieux style. Polka de Concert Oleg Marshev, Aarhus Symphony Orchestra / James Loughran Danacord DACOCD 596 This is the sixth CD and the best yet in Oleg Marshev's ear-opening exploration of the music of the Hamburg-born virtuoso Emil von Sauer (1862 - 1942). Sauer's Second Piano Concerto, here receiving its first recording, turns out to be a major work, a close cousin to the Rachmaninov and Medtner concertos. You know from the start it is going to be something important: a haunting oboe melody creates a gorgeous autumnal atmosphere, into which...

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BBC Music Magazine. Sauer Vol.4

February 13, 2015
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BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE April 2001 Sauer Piano Sonata n.2 in E flat, etc. Oleg Marshev (piano) / Danacord DACOCD 534 / 67:11 DDD Oleg Marshev has recorded four CDs of Emil von Sauer’s piano music and listening to them is certainly an interesting experience. First, Sauer, a virtuoso pianist who studied with Nicolai Rubinstein and briefly with Liszt, has a legendary status in pianistic circles. He composed a considerable quantity of music which was published between 1895 and 1930, including two sonatas, two concertos, two suites, 29 concert etudes and a large assortment of salon works, which are bound to hold some interest for specialists. Next, Marshev is a truly marvellous pianist. His tone is luminous and full, without a...

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CLASSIC CD. Sauer Vol.2

February 13, 2015
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CLASSIC CD March 1999 A tribute to vanished elegance SAUER Etudes and Valses, Vol. 2 Oleg Marshev (piano) / Danacord DACOCD 488 / 72:36 DDD  Emil Sauer (1862-1942), pupil of Liszt and virtuoso extraordinary, was also a composer of high merit, writing in many forms, large and small. This programme offers a judicious selection of the concert studies and waltzes which he composed throughout his adult life. Oleg Marshev brings appropriate virtuosity and swagger to the studies, reminded us that such a style was essential for the adequate realization of such vintage fare. All 16 tracks offer pleasure to the ear. The music never emulates the poetic depth which Chopin brought to such forms, but it often recalls Liszt in...

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KLASSIK ONLINE, Sauer Vol.3

February 13, 2015
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KLASSIK ONLINE www.klassik.com October 9, 2000 Sauer, Emil von: Propos de Bal Der Titel Propos de Bal (Liebeswerben im Ballsaal) läßt einen an das musikalische Pedant zu klebrigen jungen Kadetten denken, die naive heiratswillige Fräuleins aus gutem Hause mit schönen Worten herumzukriegen versuchen, um später in der Kaserne mit ihren Errungenschaften zu prahlen. Sieht man sich die Fotografie Emil von Sauers im Booklet an, beschleichen einen erste Zweifel: Da blickt den Betrachter nämlich ein ernsthafter junger Mann mit intelligenten, durchdringenden Augen an. Hört man daraufhin in die CD hinein, schämt man sich sogleich, dem Schüler von Anton Rubinstein und Franz Liszt soetwas unterstellt zu haben. Gleich darauf drängt sich die nächste Frage auf: Warum ist der 1942 verstorbene Pianist mit...

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Classical Music on the web. Sauer Vol.1-4

February 13, 2015
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Emil von Sauer (1862-1942) Piano Works in Four volumes Oleg Marshev — piano Volume 1 — Etudes de Concert Concert-Etude; Vogelstimmen; Murmure du Vent; Octaven-Etüde; Près du Ruisseau; Frisson de Feuilles; Flammes de Mer; Au Vol; Orage d'Avril; Sylphes glissants; A Cheval; L'Eteuf; La Chasse; Prélude Erotique; Tarantelle Fantastique; Etude en Trilles; Les Sirènes; Volubilité; Vision; A la valse. DANACORD DACD487 / 77.21 / AmazonUK Volume 2 — Etudes de Concert and other works Etude chromatique; Le Vertige; Toccata; Les Pins de la Villa Medici; Gebirgsbächlein; Preghiera; Walsdeszauber; Waldandacht; Staccato-Etüde; Dialogo (Impromptu) Les Délices de Vienne; Le Retour; Couplet sans Paroles; Scherzo Valse; Boîte a musique; Echo de Vienne. DANACORD DACD488 / 71.36 / AmazonUK Volume 3 — Piano Sonata...

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CLASSICAL MUSIC ON THE WEB. Sauer Vol.5

February 12, 2015
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CLASSICAL MUSIC ON THE WEB Emil von Sauer (1862-1942) Suite Moderne (1906) Aus lichten Tagen (Date of composition not known) Drei Konzertetuden (1910) Galop de Concert in E flat minor (1911) Oleg Marshev (piano) Rec. Mantzius Garden, Birkerod, Denmark, Feb 2003, Steinway Model D piano. Suite and Galop de Concert (Volume 5 of complete works) DANACORD DACOCD 595 [61.25] One of the things that annoys me most about some reviewers and musicologists is the 'Macbeth' approach to composers who are not noted for there propensity to push the limits of composition to new and further bounds. (more…)

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HIGH FIDELITY. Sauer Vol.1

February 12, 2015
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HIGH FIDELITY August 1998 Impressive Virtuosity Sauer. Etudes de concert. DANACORD DACOCD 487 / 77:21 DDD Many will nod in recognition of the name Emil von Sauer, one of the great keyboard lions of the past. But Emil von Sauer the composer? Perhaps some transcriptions and arrangements? But no! The man also composed “real” music, including these 20 enormously virtuoso studies. It’s not great music because there isn’t much in the way of memorable melodic and harmonic material. In brief, there’s no personality. But is pianistically idiomatic, and that in itself justifies the existence of this CD. We’re here presented with the elite of piano technique here and it is in itself entertaining to hear a man perform what appears...

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INTERNATIONAL PIANO QUATERLY. SAUER Vol.2

February 12, 2015
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INTERNATIONAL PIANO QUATERLY Spring 1999 SAUER Etudes de concert Nos. 21-30. Boîte à Musique. Couplet sans Paroles. Les Délices de Vienne. Echo de Vienne. Le Retour. Scherzo Valse. OLEG MARSHEV — pf / Danacord DACOCD 488 / 72' / DDD Hard on the heels of Vol.1 (DACOCD 487 W/99) comes the second disc of Marshev's enterprising survey of the piano music of Emil von Sauer, containing the remaining Etudes de concert and a selection of Waltzes for good measure. More so than in the first volume, the studies on this disc tend towards a finger-crunching toccata style (whether Mendelssohnian or Ravelian in character) rather than Chopinesque poetry, although there are notable exceptions (No. 26, "Preghiera", for example, or the extended...

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Gramophone. Danish Piano Concertos Vol.4

February 12, 2015
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Gramophone/ Bendix Piano Concerto/Simonsen Piano Concerto Oleg Marshev (pf) Aalborg Symphony Orchestra/Matthias Aeschbacher Danacord DACOCD 641 69' Two more great, if overshadowed, Danes take centre stage Volume 4 of Danacord's Danish Piano Concertos steals a march on Hyperion's Romantic Piano Concerto series by offering works by Viktor Bendix (1851-1926) and Rudolph Simonsen (1889-1947) od a startling weight and seriousness. Sadly, both composers' romanticism was overshadowed by Nielsen's genius and until the present magnificent issue both concertos languished in obscurity. Intriguingly, Bendix's career was also clouded by scandal and, as he succumbed to one temptation too many, even his most ardent followers retreated in distaste. Comparisons of Bendix to Saint-Saens seem odd for music of such Teutonic cut and Reger-like ambitions,...

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GRAMOPHONE. Danish Piano Concertos, Vol. 3

February 12, 2015
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GRAMOPHONE March 2005 Danish Piano Concertos, Volume 3 Malling Piano Concerto Salomon Piano Concert Schytte Piano Concerto Oleg Marshev, Aalborg Symphony Orchestra / Matthias Aeschbacher Danacord DACOCD 597 A musical sugar for those with a sweet tooth (more…)

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