Limelight's panel of experts presents 12 opera stars making musical history.

Leslie Howard’s 99-CD set of Liszt’s piano music has recast the Liszt problem for 2011: it’s not that his music is underrated, misconstrued or maligned, it’s that most of it simply hasn’t been heard. With this CD of rarely programmed works, Brazilian pianist Nelson Freire makes his own compellingly listenable – and relatively concise – case for why there’s more to Liszt than Liebestraum.  However, not all the pieces on the disc are lost gems. Freire opts for one of the least played Hungarian Rhapsodies, the thanklessly stark No 3, which he imbues with a sensitivity the piece probably does not merit. More worthy of revival is the Ballade No 2. This is a fierce and entertaining tussle of Sturm vs Drang, a more rhetorical and grandiloquent work than any of Chopin’s four, but with a lyrical middle section to rival any by the Polish composer (who dubbed Liszt “a clever craftsman without a vestige of talent”). Freire brings an opulent lyricism to these moments of Chopinesque reverie, most notably in the third of the Consolations, based on the opening of Chopin’s D-flat Nocturne, Op 27, No 2.  Other pieces, such as Au Lac de Wallenstadt from Années de Pèlerinage,…

At the Movies co-hosts choose their favourite film scores... Will they agree at last?

Dutch singer Caro Emerald holds the record for the longest time at No 1 on the Netherlands pop charts. But Deleted Scenes has even more impressive things to recommend it. Emerald has taken the sound world of 1920s Chicago and given it a slick, studio sound of today. So you could use it to dance the Charleston, or the krump, or whatever it is the kids do nowadays. I can handle the electronic beats, but the synthesized horns really cheapen this recording. But all in all, a delightful bit of Eurotrash to titillate fans of Helen Kane, Fats Waller and maybe even Amy Winehouse.

At 23, is this sultry Australian singer-pianist the next Diana Krall?

This documentary could just as easily have been called “monomania”. It is a character study of obsessive Steinway technician Stefan Knüpfer, a virtuoso among piano tuners. He prepares the instruments for the actual virtuosi, responding with inexhaustible patience to their often nebulous requests. Pierre-Laurent Aimard, for instance, wants a piano with two contrasting soundworlds for a recording of The Art of Fugue – an effect Knüpfer attempts to realise, in a rather Chaplinesque episode, with the help of removable sound absorbers and glass sound mirrors.  Knüpfer’s mishaps continue when Lang Lang announces that the piano tuned especially for his solo concert is better suited for chamber music. Comedy duo Igudesman & Joo draw a welcome spark of levity from the technician, whose implacable earnestness does grow a bit dull at times. In fact, the film’s only shocking moment is when we learn Knüpfer has a family. What? A life away from Steinway?  Knüpfer is not the most charismatic linchpin for a documentary, but by god, he’s definitely the man you’d want tuning your piano. And that’s what this documentary is really about – the quest for the perfect piano sound, and the men who devote their lives to it. A…

On the centenary of Mahler’s death, we investigate the origins of the sometimes enigmatic titles given to his symphonies. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

The artistic director of Melbourne’s Sunwrae Ensemble, Rae Howell, chats about the group’s unique blend of classical, jazz and world music. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Paul Dyer talks to Limelight about his upcoming debut with WASO and the art of performing Baroque repertoire with a modern orchestra. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Clint Mansell is the former frontman of UK band Pop Will Eat Itself and the composer of cult scores for Darren Aronofsky films Pi, Requiem for a Dream and, now, Black Swan. The soundtrack to this ballet thriller is a bold reimagining of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake.  Mansell doesn’t quite have the musical chops to take Tchaikovsky’s score apart himself – but, with the help of arranger-conductor Matt Dunkley, he has concocted 16 tracks of atmospheric instrumental music which dance around moments of high drama in Tchaikovsky’s score. These are given rather silly names – Opposites Attract, A Room of her Own, It’s My Time – which relate to the movie, but say nothing about the music. Still, on the whole, this is an interesting undertaking – Swan Lake seen through a glass darkly. And Mansell has the good judgement and taste to let Tchaikovsky’s music speak for itself when necessary.

Italian mezzo soprano Cecilia Bartoli has conquered the world’s great opera houses, turned Salieri into a bestseller and become a saviour of the classical recording industry… But she has never, until now, performed in Australia. Francis Merson spoke to Cecilia on the eve of her maiden tour. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

French pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet talks to Francis Merson about Debussy, transcriptions and the moon in the lead-up to his performances in Sydney. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in