Reviews » Urlicht AudioVisual

Michael Rabin “at the height of his powers”

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Jan 042025

Remastered by Urlicht AudioVisual’s Gene Gaudette – strong critical praise shared with Parnassus Records’ Leslie Gerber:
“Last September I included in this column Parnassus’s ‘Michael Rabin on The Bell Telephone Hour’, promising a forthcoming second volume, which has now appeared and like the first includes some dazzling tracks. Both volumes are mandatory purchases for violin buffs. But more important still for fans… is a coupling of two full-length concertos that he never had the chance to take into the studio, Paul Creston’s Second (which Rabin commissioned) and, most treasurable, the Beethoven Concerto. … Both recordings only go to illustrate Rabin’s level of musical and technical superiority while at the height of his powers. Gene Gaudette’s remastering is excellent and so are Leslie Gerber’s notes.”
– Rob Cowan, Gramophone
Read the full review here.

More rave reviews for Playfair Sonatas

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Dec 092024

“This piano sonata has a rather jazzy feeling, reserved and lyrical one moment yet leaping with wild agility the next. … The result is a wonderful CD featuring six sonatas each for a different instrument and, of course, six different soloists. Iverson composed all pieces and plays piano on all but one of the tracks.”
— Ken Talbot, MusicWeb International (full review here)

“[Roz Chast’s d]elightful art, informative booklet, and rewarding music that brings a dash of jazz seasoning to chamber music make Playfair Sonatas an irresistible release for music lovers of the jazz and classical persuasions alike.”
— Karl Nehring, Classical Candor (full review here)

A full list of streaming/download/CD purchase links can be found here.

Playfair Sonatas continues to get rave reviews

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Dec 032024

Christian Carey deems Playfair Sonatas – and Ethan’s Technically Acceptable on Blue Note – two of his favorite releases if 2024. Read his review at Sequenza21 here.

The New York Times‘ Seth Colter Walls can’t stop thinking about Playfair Sonatas. Read his review (along with coverage of notable concert appearnces by Davoné Tines and Lise Davidsen) here.

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

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May 312023

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”

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May 162023

\”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

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Apr 202023

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!

‘Deeply Loveable Music’

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Jan 172015

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.

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Downloads available from Amazon and iTunes.

Baltimore Sun: “Indispensable to Serious Mahler fans”

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Jul 072014

The Baltimore Sun‘s Tim Smith celebrates Gustav Mahler’s birthday by going “old school” with Urlicht AudioVisual’s acclaimed complete edition of issued prewar 78s:

“Mahler will always be a big deal to me, which means I never tire of learning more about him and hearing more interpretations of his work. And that is why I want to make sure you know about a collection from Urlicht AudioVisual — ‘The Music of Gustav Mahler: Issued 78s, 1903-1940′.

“This set of eight compact discs is indispensable to serious Mahler fans. Of course, the most serious will already have the Bruno Walter-conducted items and may have tracked down a lot of the more obscure material already. But a lot of us will find many a fresh treasure — or curio (the Fourth Symphony recorded by a Tokyo orchestra in 1930, for example).

“And, besides, it’s great to have everything gathered together in a neat package, all sensitively transferred (by Ward Marston, Mark Obert-Thorn and Charles Martin), with highly detailed and illuminating notes by Sybille Werner and the set’s producer Gene Gaudette. …

“There are marvels of interpretive nuance that emerge throughout the set, despite dated sound and some less-than-stellar orchestral playing here and there. Today’s performers could learn an awful lot from studying this music-making.“

Now available in the US and most European and Asian territories.

The most comprehensive collection ever assembled of Mahler’s music as issued on 78s between 1903 and 1940 — every such recording listed in Péter Fülöp’s Mahler Discography
New transfers by Ward Marston and Mark Obert-Thorn
Detailed notes on the music, the recording artists, and revelatory information about performances of Mahler’s music prior to World War II by Sybille Werner
Full texts and translations
Super-value price

No longer available, limited to an edition of 1000 copies
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“rigor and grace, violence and gentleness…”

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May 242014

Christian Carey reviews the newest CD from Miranda Cuckson and Blair McMillen:

Violinist Miranda Cuckson and pianist Blair McMillen have already proven themselves an estimable duo for works by American Modernists such as Shapey and Martino. Their latest outing features Elliott Carter’s Duo for Violin and Piano (1973)… a rendition that juxtaposes rigor and grace, violence and gentleness… Clocking in at over thirty minutes, [the Sessions Sonata for solo violin] is a bear of a piece, demanding both virtuosity and considerable thoughtfulness from the violinist to bring it off: Cuckson has both in spades. … [Eckardt’s Styrömkarl] is vividly characterful and a real workout for the performers; one they assay handily.

Elliott Carter: Duo for violin and piano (1973) [21:56]
Roger Sessions: Sonata for solo violin (1953)
1. Tempo moderato, con ampiezza, e liberamente [10:53]
2. Molto vivo [6:57]
3. Adagio e dolcemente [10:22]
4. Alla Marcia vivace[4:53]
Jason Eckardt: Strömkarl [12:51]

Miranda Cuckson, violin
Blair McMillen, piano

Produced by Gene Gaudette
Engineered and edited by Ryan Streber, Oktaven Audio

CD Edition: Urlicht AudioVisual UAV-5989
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New York Times Praises Cuckson and McMillen’s New Urlicht CD

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Apr 232014

High praise from the newspaper of record:

The violinist Miranda Cuckson and the pianist Blair McMillen, who are individually brilliant and adventurous artists, bring out the best in each other in their frequent collaborations, including their latest recording of contemporary works. Their incisive, animated playing cuts through the density and complexity of Carter’s Duo for Violin and Piano to reveal the music’s wit and fancifulness. Jason Eckardt wrote his glistening, jittery and playfully frenetic “Strömkarl” last year as a companion piece for this recording. Ms. Cuckson is outstanding in Sessions’s magisterial, technically challenging Sonata for Solo Violin (1953). — Anthony Tommasini

Elliott Carter: Duo for violin and piano (1973) [21:56]
Roger Sessions: Sonata for solo violin (1953)
1. Tempo moderato, con ampiezza, e liberamente [10:53]
2. Molto vivo [6:57]
3. Adagio e dolcemente [10:22]
4. Alla Marcia vivace[4:53]
Jason Eckardt: Strömkarl [12:51]

Miranda Cuckson, violin
Blair McMillen, piano

Produced by Gene Gaudette
Engineered and edited by Ryan Streber, Oktaven Audio

CD Edition: Urlicht AudioVisual UAV-5989
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Available in Europe and Asia in May 2013

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