Diskographie



Cd erschienen bei Naxos
Recorded & edited by Gerhard Kanzian
BRUCE ADOLPHE CHOPIN DREAMS CARLO GRANTE NAXOS
In addition to a body of subtle and ravishingly beautiful piano music, Chopin also bequeathed us an entire philosophy of pianism — a way of thinking about the instrument, and an approach to melody, rhythm and harmony that changed music for good. In his wonderfully engaging piano suite “Chopin Dreams,” composer Bruce Adolphe applies that philosophy to various other musical strains, from cocktail jazz to techno to Jewish folk dancing, with results that range far beyond the simple premise. Some of the movements are based on actual Chopin pieces, but all of them capture the composer’s distinctive stylistic thumbprint in a refractory new light. The piece, played here with elegant virtuosity by Carlo Grante, is witty but not exactly comic in its intent. For comedy, look to the selection of “Piano Puzzlers,” drawn from the hundreds of short pieces Adolphe has written for the public radio program “Performance Today,” which recast familiar folk melodies in the style of classical composers. And for more serious fare, there is Adolphe’s “Seven Thoughts Considered as Music,” which turns gnomic utterances by Heraclitus, Kafka and others into short, eloquent tone pictures. — Joshua Kosman

"Carlo Grante's detailed, colourful and thoughtfully articulated interpretations will be hard to equal, let alone surpass..."
- Gramophone, January 2017



Cd erschienen bei Music & Arts
Recorder & edited by Gerhard Kanzian
http://www.musicandarts.com
American Record Guide, May/June 2015, Alan Becker, reviewer
LISZT: Dante Sonata; Mephisto Waltz 3; Petrarch Sonnets; Totentanz Carlo Grante, p—Music & Arts 1285— 67 minutes It was inevitable that Italian virtuoso Grante turn again to the music of Franz Liszt. It was also inevitable that he add something unusual to his recital—here the Busoni transcription of Mephisto Waltz (after the orchestral version), and the rarely done solo piano version of Totentanz. The attractive package is illustrated by mostly period sources. Grante’s notes pours forth a wealth of information to justify his title, ‘Liszt Art & Literature’, with emphasis on the literary. Additional kudos to Allison Rolls for outstanding graphic design that even extends to the disc itself. Totentanz—that masterpiece of Lisztian rhetoric with its persistent use of the ‘Dies Irae’—comes across even more vulgar and tiresome without its orchestral garb. Mephisto Waltz appears flashier than ever as Grante makes his way through Busoni’s reworking of it. The Dante Sonata has plenty of rhetoric too, but the pianist makes a tasty meal of the central lyrical episode. This and the three Petrarch Sonnets are performed with all the style and understanding one could wish for. With audio engineering that fully captures the magnificence of the Bosendorfer, this is a recital few Liszt aficionados will want to miss. BECKER

Carlo Grante - Liszt, Art and Literature
Auf einem Bösendorfer Imperial-Flügel aus dem Besitz von Eva und Paul Badura-Skoda hat der italienische Pianist Carlo Grante für das amerikanische Label Arts & Literature ein ebenso betiteltes Album mit Klavierwerken Franz Liszts eingespielt. Grante, in dessen umfangreicher Diskografie unter anderem Domenico Scarlattis sämtliche Sonaten, Busonis Klavierkonzert und Klavierkonzerte Mozarts und Schumanns zu finden sind und der an einer Gesamteinspielung des Klavierwerks von Leopold Godowsky arbeitet, hat auf dieser CD sechs gut bekannte, nichtsdestoweniger herausfordernde Werke Liszts zusammengestellt: Après une lecture de Dante - Fantasia quasi sonata (Searle 161,7, aus den Années de Pèlerinage 2ème Année Italie), die drei Petrarca-Sonette (47, 104, 123) für Klavier allein aus dem gleichen Zyklus (Searle 161,4-6), den Mephisto-Walzer Nr. 1 (Searle 514) in einer von Ferruccio Busoni nach Liszts Orchesterfassung (Searle 110,2) transkribierten Fassung sowie schließlich den Totentanz für Klavier solo, Searle 525.
In seinem Bookletaufsatz zur CD spürt Grante ausführlich den literarischen Einflüssen und Motiven in Liszts Kompositionen nach - hier sind es insbesondere Dante und Hugo, Petrarca, Lenau und Goethe - aber auch jenen der bildenden Kunst, etwa den Faust-Illustrationen von Delacroix und anderen, oder den seit dem Spätmittelalter vor allem nördlich der Alpen weit verbreiteten Totentanzdarstellungen. Nicht zuletzt weist er auch auf die musikalische Rezeptionsgeschichte insbesondere des Fauststoffs hin, in der Liszt sich in namhafter Gesellschaft befindet.
Unter diesem schweren ästhetischen Gepäck gelingt Grante ein fulminanter Mephisto-Walzer (Der Tanz in der Dorfschenke) in der verschärften, unter Hinzunahme der Orchesterfassung transkribierten Fassung Ferruccio Busonis. Der Bösendorfer rollt und grollt, heult und blitzt, um unter Grantes Händen im Totentanz schließlich zu einer wahren Höllenmaschine zu werden.
Aber auch die Engelsstimmen beherrscht er, etwa im 123. Petrarca-Sonett (I vidi in terra angelici costumi) oder den Hymnus (im 47. Sonett, Benedetto sia 'l giorno).
Die "unablässigen, gigantischen Kontraste der Dynamik, der Register und Tempi in dramatischer Gegenüberstellung", die Grante in seinem Aufsatz der Fantasia quasi Sonata attestiert, verlangen in seiner Interpretation dem Hörer auf den Spuren der Form dieses Meisterwerks jedoch hohe Konzentration ab.
Rezension von Michael Straeter

Cd erschienen bei Music & Arts
Recorder & edited by Gerhard Kanzian
http://www.musicandarts.com
Audiophile Audition (USA), May 2015, Gary Lemco, reviewer
Recorded in Vienna, 2013, these keyboard works of Ravel, composed 1899-1908, embrace the colorful and “impressionist” aspects of his art, given the constraints upon the latter term, about which both Ravel and Debussy expressed deep reservations................... Audio engineering, editing and mastering by Gerhard Kanzian of KVK – SOUNDSTUDIO is first rate. —Gary Lemco



Der ganze Artikel ist hier nachzulesen: http://audaud.com/2015/06/ravel-miroirs-mirrors-pavane-pour-une-infante-defunte-gaspard-de-la-nuit-trois-poemes-pour-piano-dapres-aloysius-bertrand-carlo-grante-p-music-arts/

RAVEL Miroirs. Pavane pour une infante défunte. Gaspard de la nuit, Carlo Grante - KVK Soundstudio - MUSIC & ARTS 1289

In Fanfare 38:6, I reviewed an excellent Liszt disc by Carlo Grante (Music & Arts 1285). Once again, Grante provides booklet notes that are a fount of information. At least, for all pieces except Gaspard; that piece is covered by Alexander Eccles. Grante’s playing on the Liszt disc was astonishing; his Ravel is just about as impressive. Grante has immense sensitivity as well as technical command. Both, of course, are to the fore in Gaspard. But first, Miroirs. Perhaps the loneliness of “Oiseaux tristes”, the second movement, sums up Grante’s strengths the best. Exquisitely weighted chords meet a perfect sense of timing. The result is a haunting performance out of which emerges the slowly swirling eddies of “Une Barque sur l’Océan”. Here it is Grante’s pedalling technique that is so awesome, twinned with a miraculous variety of touch. The sprightliness of “Alborada del gracioso” is gorgeously caught (Grante ingeniously links the opening in his booklet notes twith Scarlatti’s Keyboard Sonata Kk175; worthwhile remembering Grante’s mammoth Scarlatti project at this point, perhaps). Only “La Vallée des Cloches” could perhaps have that added touch of mystery. The Pavane is a dream, though, unfolding with a flowing sense of inevitability.
It is in Ravel’s infamous Gaspard that Grante really shines. The palette he finds for “Ondine” is incredible, and if one were to search for a quibble it might be that in live performance the climax might be that touch more ecstatic; “Le Gubet” too benefits from Grante’s subtlety. The infamous “Scarbo” flickers daemonically. No virtuoso showpiece in Grante’s hands, he seems rather at pains to show its kinship with the pieces in Miroirs, seeing it as an exploratory extension. A low-pedal approach reveals some passages emerging as more progressive than one usually imagines them
Basically, the colors Grante obtains from his Bösendorfer (on load from Paul Badura-Skoda) throughout this recital encompass the entire spectrum. This version of Gaspard deserves a place in the pantheon of the greats, although in fairness no-one need jettison classic accounts of the likes of Pogorelich and Argerich. Looking around, I am intrigued by Ciro Longobardi’s coupling of Gaspard with Sciarrino’s Nocturnes and Notturni cruddeli on the Stradivarius label and, given that I have more time for Sciarrino than my colleague Peter Burwasser does (in Fanfare 33:3), it is a disc I may well search out. But for those wanting an all-Ravel disc, this one is tough to beat.
Colin Clarke





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