Violinist Yevgeny Kutic was a recent guest on WGBH's "Live from Fraser" program. He played one of my all-time favorite pieces: the Sonata in A Major by Cesar Franck.
The whole show is worth listening to, but since the audio program below lasts about an hour . . .
. . . you can get a taste of it with this video, in which Mr. Kutic plays the second movement of the Franck sonata.
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That latter video, the second movement of the Sonata in A Major, is excellent. It's so rare to find a classical piece that is both so radiantly clear AND so complex. Thanks for posting.
Rachmaninoff's Suite No. 2 for 2 Pianos is another such piece that combines that radiant clarity and complexity. A good performance/recording is by Andre Previn & Vladimir Ashkenazy.
Here's a decent (but not as good) recording by two others (Inon Barnatan and Gilles Vonsattel) of the fourth part:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Zjt9QTj6V8
Thanks, Jason, for the link to that awesome Rachmaninoff piece. I thought I knew Rachmaninoff's body of work pretty well, so I was shocked to realize that I don't know that Suite for Two Pianos--or at least I don't remember hearing it before.
I love how you put that phrase for the Franck sonata: "radiantly clear AND so complex." That's exactly right.
Definitely check out all four parts of Suite No. 2 for 2 Pianos--they are all exceptional. The album I purchased the MP3s of the piece from, excellently performed by Previn/Ashkenazy, is "Rachmaninov: The Piano Concertos."
I was first drawn primarily to the second part (waltz), and played that part over and over--it is wonderfully light and swift, like a Chopin waltz, but with far greater melody--before appreciating the other parts.
Stephen,
What's your email, if you don't mind. I have a music recommendation. And I'm curious if you saw the movie The Town, which I really liked---given that you reviewed Ben Affleck's other directed movie Gone Baby Gone (I found it boring, so much so that I can't even remember what it was about, but perhaps I should give it another viewing). Also, very good Citizen Kane review on that other now defunct blog of yours. I really like how he comes across as larger than life, Hugo-esque, and as a man of stature, vibrancy, and purpose; yes, like Wynand in many regards. This scene pretty much encapsulates his boldness:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzhb3U2cONs
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