The Fiddler of the Opera Gil Shaham, violin; Akira Eguchi, piano (Deutsche Grammophon)
Aria Richard Stoltzman, clarinet; Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, Arthur Fagen, conductor (RCA Victor)
Two of today’s leading classical instrumentalists offer transcriptions of opera arias, with somewhat varied results. As one might expect, violinist Gil Shaham’s slickly packaged disc concentrates on virtuosic arrangements and offers some intriguing rarities, like Sarasate’s 12-minute fantasy on music from Mozart’s “The Magic Flute,” the Paganini/Kreisler edition of Rossini’s “I palpiti” and Jeno Hubay’s version of music from “Carmen,” which provides a nice break from the usual Sarasate or Waxman collages. While Shaham surmounts all of the technical landmines with style and aplomb, the Illinois-born fiddler seems less at home in this lighter repertoire, and his edgy, aggressive playing rarely provokes a smile or sense of guilty pleasure, lacking the light touch and charm of Itzhak Perlman.
Less overtly virtuosic but more enjoyable is Richard Stoltzman’s disc of his own aria transcriptions. While purists may cringe, there are few musicians who can turn a phrase as irresistibly as the American clarinetist and Stoltzman’s liquid legato and wide range of coloring are more nuanced and varied in expression than many voices. Highlights include a rapt “O mio babbino caro,” a touching rendering of Nina’s gentle aria from Massenet’s “Cherubin” and a lilting gavotte from “Manon.” Stoltzman’s jazz experience tells in his wonderfully free suite from “Porgy and Bess”–Shaham’s rendering of Heifetz’s “Porgy” arrangements sounds too polite by far–and an offbeat “Carmen” suite accompanied by clarinet septet. At 77 minutes, this is a disc to dip into rather than listen to straight through, but Stoltzman’s charismatic playing is a delight all the way.
