Sonata no. 2

"It's a provocative mix: Charles Ives isn't often juxtaposed with the Second Viennese School ... That's underlined here by Lubimov's account of the Ives, which is rugged, uncompromising and often thrilling ... Lubimov seems to delight in that roughness, and his playing celebrates the complexity and technical challenges as much as it does the moments of poetry that unfold when the welter dies away".

Læs anmeldelse

"Den næsten 50 minutter lange klaversonate nr. 2 med tilnavnet Concord er et hovedværk ikke blot for Charles Ives , men også i klaverlitteraturen som sådan ... Intet er for småt og intet for stort i Ives' splintrede musikalske univers ... og så vidt det er menneskeligt muligt, får den unge finske pianist Joonas Ahonen det hele med. Han skaber organiske sammenhænge i Ives' ofte abrupte musik ... Og Pekka Kuusisto er en perfekt partner i violinsonaten. Han mestrer både at være en spillemand med folkemusik i ærmet og at give sig hen til de mest forfinede romantiske drømmerier".

"While technically impressive, it [Ives] also has the spontaneity and sweep of live performance ... Virtuosity may be pushed to the very limit in the fantastical whirligig of quotations ... The other two works come from a different concert, with slightly less resonant piano sound ... Lubimov sounds a little unsettled ... missing some of their mysterious poise [Webern: opening bars], though he defines the remaining movements cleanly enough, and rides the chromatic surges of Alban Berg's hyper-Romantic one-movement Sonata with conviction".

"Copland's Organ Symphony was considered the height of musical modernism at its premiere in 1925 ... It seems rather tame now, though still appealing ... The live recording, though, is absolutely stunning, with the organ clearly spaced in Davies Hall, allowing Paul Jacobs to be in the foreground, and yet an integral part of the orchestra".