new release guide - Naxos International (Far East)

JUL-AUG 2012
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NEW RELEASE GUIDE
THIS MONTH’S HIGHLIGHTS:
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN
PR/DSD350058
Thierry PÉCOU
Tremendum
Edvard GRIEG & Antonin
DVOŘÁK
Nobuyuki TSUJII
Live at Carnegie Hall
(DVD) 101581 / (Blu-ray) 108069
(DVD) 2059088 / (Blu-ray) 2059084
(DVD) 711508 / (Blu-ray) 711604
Leonard BERNSTEIN
BRAHMS & SCHUMANN
HMC905269
BIS-CD-1899
Italian Virtuosi of the
Chitarrone
CDDCA728
TAH2011
8573031
Laureate Series
Anton BRUCKNER
Symphony No. 8
Naxos International (Far East) Limited
5B, Blue Box Factory Building, 25 Hing Wo Street, Tin Wan, Aberdeen, Hong Kong Tel: 2951 9557 Email: [email protected]
CLASSICAL MUSIC
Ermanno WOLF-FERRARI
(1876-1948)
Idillio-concertino in A major,
Op. 15 • Concertino in A
flat major, Op. 34 • Suiteconcertino in F major, Op. 16
Andrea Tenaglia (oboe)
William Moriconi (cor anglais)
Giuseppe Ciabocchi (bassoon)
Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma •
Francesco La Vecchia
Although Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari is known mainly for his operatic
compositions (La vedova scaltra is available on Naxos CD 8.660225-26
and DVD 2.110234-35), he wrote a number of sublimely expressive
and lyrical orchestral works, devoting the majority of his time in later
life to composing instrumental music. The three delightfully melodic,
rhythmically buoyant and, at times elegiac works featured on this
recording represent his complete wind concerto output.
In 2002 Francesco La Vecchia was appointed Artistic Director and Resident
Conductor of the Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma. Under his leadership the
orchestra has rapidly achieved success in Europe and in highly successful tours
to St Petersburg, Madrid, Belgrade, Brussels, Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia, London,
Athens, Berlin, Beijing and Shanghai.
8.572921
THE GUERRA MANUSCRIPT,
Volume 2
17th Century Secular
Spanish Vocal Music
Juan Sancho (tenor) • Ars Atlántica
Named after an eminent scribe at the
court in Madrid, the Guerra Manuscript
contains over one hundred secular
songs from the second half of the
seventeenth century. The anthology
is a valuable repository of music
from anonymous sources but also from Spain’s very finest Baroque
composers, such as Juan Hidalgo and José Marín. These expressive
songs, largely on poetic and mythological themes, are performed by
some of the world’s leading interpreters of the genre, whose first volume
in this series [8.570135] received great acclaim.
The tenor Juan Sancho has collaborated with conductors including
William Christie, Gustav Leonhardt, Jordi Savall, Andrea Marcon,
Fabio Biondi, Allan Curtis, Richard Egarr and Diego Fasolis. Founded
and directed by the Galician harpist Manuel Vilas, the Ars Atlántica
ensemble is focused on Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and Latin
American music of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
8.572876
Wilhelm Friedemann BACH
(1710-1784)
Keyboard Works, Vol. 3 –
Sonatas and Suite
Julia Brown (harpsichord)
Wilhelm Friedemann Bach was
renowned as a brilliant improviser
and keyboard performer. His
keyboard sonatas, filled with quirky
contrasts and a more adventurously
chromatic and exploratory style than
that of his contemporaries, attest to his individualism and virtuoso
technical skill. His only Suite reworks and expands his father, J.S.
Bach’s models, turning conventional dance movements into character
pieces. W.F. Bach’s enthralling and unexpected twists and turns
create an expressive and unique musical language, performed by the
‘wonderful’ Julia Brown. (Fanfare on 8.570530, W.F. Bach Keyboard
Works Vol. 2)
Julia Brown is currently Director of Music and Organist at First United
Methodist Church in Eugene, Oregon, while also maintaining a full
schedule of teaching, performing and recording. She is also active as
a harpsichordist, exploring performance practice and early music in
chamber music settings.
8.572814
2
Music from
THE ETON CHOIRBOOK
TONUS PEREGRINUS
Antony Pitts (director)
The Eton Choirbook is a giant 500
year-old manuscript from Eton
College Chapel, and one of the
greatest surviving glories of preReformation England. This recording
features the earliest polyphonic
Passion by a named composer,
two heartrending motets for five and six voices, two thrilling settings
of the Magnificat, and an extraordinary canon in 13 parts, Jesus
autem transiens. The ensemble TONUS PEREGRINUS has been
widely acclaimed, not least for its “richly sung and very well recorded”
programme of Orlando Gibbons, L’Estrange, and Pitts. (The Penguin
Guide on 8.557681)
TONUS PEREGRINUS was founded by the composer Antony Pitts
in 1990, and today is an established ensemble in Britain and abroad
with a significant discography. At the core of TONUS PEREGRINUS
are a dozen singers who combine their diverse expertise to interpret a
repertoire ranging from the end of the Dark Ages to scores where the
ink is still wet.
8.572840
Gioachino ROSSINI
(1792-1868)
L’occasione fa il ladro
Elizaveta Martirosyan (soprano) •
Fanie Antonelou (mezzo-soprano)
Gianpiero Ruggeri (baritone) • Mauro
Utzeri (baritone) • Garðar Thór
Cortes (tenor) • Joan Ribalta (tenor)
Württemberg Philharmonic Orchestra
• Antonino Fogliani
Composed by the young Gioachino
Rossini in eleven days to comply with a contractual commitment, L’occasione
fa il ladro (Opportunity Makes A Thief) is a comedy of multiple confusions.
Count Alberto, travelling to be wed to a fiancée he has yet to meet, leaves
an inn with the wrong suitcase. Don Parmenione audaciously adopts the
Count’s identity, determined to take the bride for himself. This single-act
burletta is a swift and deftly plotted moral drama, Rossini’s exuberant
inspiration poured into interactions both tender and hilariously bewildering.
Antonino Fogliani’s many conducting engagements have taken him
to leading international opera houses and concert halls. For Rossini
in Wildbad he has directed Ciro in Babilonia, L’occasione fa il ladro,
Mosè in Egitto, La scala di seta, Il signor Bruschino and Otello, as well
as Vaccaj’s La sposa di Messina.
8.660314-15 (2 CDs)
Kenneth FUCHS (1904-49)
Atlantic Riband
American Rhapsody
Divinum Mysterium • Concerto
Grosso • Discover the Wild
Michael Ludwig (violin)
Paul Silverthorne (viola)
London Symphony Orchestra
JoAnn Falletta
World Première Recordings
Kenneth Fuchs is one of America’s leading composers and his latest
collaboration with award-winning conductor JoAnn Falletta and the
London Symphony Orchestra – the first volume of which (8.559224)
was nominated for two GRAMMY® awards – reveals the breadth of his
achievement. Atlantic Riband evokes the struggle and ultimate victory
of ocean-crossing immigrants to America in an orchestral showpiece of
power and splendor. American Rhapsody is a lyrical romance for violin and
orchestra, and Divinum Mysterium a single-movement viola concerto rich
in expressive tapestry. Concerto Grosso shows Fuchs’s sheer energy, and
Discover the Wild is an orchestral overture of lyricism and color.
A champion of American music, JoAnn Falletta has presented nearly five
hundred works by American composers including over one hundred world
premières. Her Naxos recordings include the double Grammy Award
winning disc of works by John Corigliano and Grammy nominated discs of
works of Tyberg, Dohnányi, Fuchs, Schubert, and Respighi.
8.559723
JUL-AUG 2012
Xavier MONTSALVATGE
(1912-2002)
Piano Music, Vol. 3 –
Music for Two Pianos
National Symphony Orchestra of
Ukraine • Andrew Mogrelia
“Living people can dance, the dying
cannot”, Prokofiev wrote to explain
the problems he faced when writing
music for the ballet Romeo and
Juliet. His original score was rejected
as ‘undanceable’ by the Bolshoy Theatre and his initial scheme for a
happy ending for the lovers was, fortunately, vetoed. The revised score,
however, proved a masterpiece of expressive beauty and drama, with
melting love music and huge bravura, and it remains one of the most
loved ballet scores of the twentieth century.
Andrew Mogrelia has had a varied career of concerts, recording and
work with major dance companies. He has worked with the English
National, Dutch National, Finnish National, Norwegian National ballets,
Netherlands Dance Theatre, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Australian Ballet,
West Australian Ballet and American Ballet Theater.
8.572928
Jordi Masó (piano I) • Miquel Villalba
(piano II & celeste) • Pia Freund
(soprano) • Ferran Carceller and
Miquel Àngel Martínez (percussion)
Ensemble Barcelona 216 • Ernest
Martínez Izquierdo
Xavier Montsalvatge was a major
contributor to Catalonian culture in the 20th century. His works for
two pianos collect most of his musical preoccupations into a single
programme. The jazz-tinted Barcelona Blues reflects his “passion
for the ballet”, and the Tres divertimentos his fascination with ‘Les
Six’. Borrowing the sonorities of Bartók, Sum Vermis expresses
the “tortured symbolism” of Jacint Verdaguer’s poetry. One of
Montsalvatge’s own favourites, the rarely performed 5 Invocaciones
al Crucificado evokes biblical dramatic intensity, and the selfparaphrasing Calidoscopio looks back over the composer’s own
creative past. Jordi Masó’s complete recording of Montsalvatge’s solo
piano music can be found on 8.570744 and 8.570756.
8.572636
Max REGER (1873-1916)
Organ Works, Volume 12
Suite No. 1 in E minor, Op. 16
Suite No. 2 in G minor, Op. 92
Laureate Series:
Srdjan Bulat Guitar Recital
In both volume and artistic distinction
there is little doubt that Reger was
the greatest German composer for
the organ since Bach. He relished
Lutheran chorales and employed
them freely, a sense of grandeur
and gravity permeating his music for the instrument. The Suite No. 1
in E minor was completed in 1895, and admired by Brahms. Its four
movements offer a compendium of Reger’s genius for both complexity
and transparency. His later Suite No. 2 in G minor, cast in seven taut
movements, similarly employs contrast, imitation and variety whilst
ending in a glorious and triumphant Fugue.
This selection ranges from the
romanticism of Francisco Tárrega,
the Spanish impressionism of
Albéniz’s Mallorca and the neoromanticism of the contemporary
Croatian composer, Stjepan Šulek,
to Rodrigo’s masterly evocation of the gardens of the Alhambra
Palace in Granada and Britten’s revolutionary Nocturnal after
John Dowland. Croatian guitarist Srdjan Bulat has won numerous
prestigious awards, and was winner of the Certamen Tárrega 2011
which included a special award for his performance of the work of
Francisco Tárrega.
First Prize • 2011 Tárrega
International Guitar Competition •
Benecasim
Kirsten Sturm (organ)
8.572821
8.573026
Laureate Series: Marianna
Prjevalskaya Piano Recital
OLD WINE IN NEW
BOTTLES
2011 Winner, Jaén Prize
International Piano Competition
Haydn’s Andante con variazioni
is a masterpiece of fantasy and
expression in which the alternation
of themes provides ever-changing
variety. Domenico Scarlatti’s Sonatas
revel in colour and rhythmic vivacity
with the G minor, K.450 luxuriating in
a ‘Spanish Tango’ of great originality. Robert Schumann told his wifeto-be, Clara, that the Sonata in F sharp minor, so rich in poetry and
passion, was ‘a cry from my heart to yours’. Marianna Prjevalskaya is
a laureate of numerous international piano competitions, including the
Paderewski (2007), Seoul (2008), José Iturbi (2008), Sendai (2010)
and Maria Canals (2011).
8.573031
Youngstown State University Wind
Ensemble & Dana Chamber Winds
Stephen L. Gage
The wind ensemble repertory
has a rich history and a vibrant
contemporary presence. Donald
Grantham, for example, evokes
gospel music of the 1920s and
’30s in Starry Crown, which draws
on the earthy vitality of call-and-response sermons. Steven Bryant’s
Ecstatic Waters reaches forward to present a pulsating narrative of
exuberance, contradiction and subtle dialogue. Gordon Jacob wrote
two series of settings of Old Wine In New Bottles in which he took old
English settings and clothed them in his zesty and witty colours. To
end, we have the songful lyricism of Carter Penn’s Hold This Boy and
Listen.
8.572762
Deems TAYLOR (1885-1966)
Through the Looking Glass, Op. 12
Charles Tomlinson GRIFFES (1884-1920)
Poem • The Pleasure Dome of Kubla Khan, Op. 8
The White Peacock • Three Tone Pictures • Bacchanale
Scott Goff (flute) • Seattle Symphony • Gerard Schwarz
The opulent and sensual expressiveness in these composers’ works has long been obscured by more turbulent
developments in music of the 20th century. One of Deems Taylor’s most successful compositions, Through the
Looking Glass celebrates Alice in Wonderland, each of its five sections corresponding to passages or episodes
from this enchanting tale. Influenced by the German Romantics and French Impressionists, Charles Tomlinson
Griffes’ rich harmonic palette and orchestral colors can be heard in the Poem written for flutist Georges Barrère, the
landscapes of the Three Tone Pictures and poetry of The White Peacock, while Kubla Khan and the Bacchanale share exotic oriental inspiration.
8.559724
JUL-AUG 2012
3
CLASSICAL MUSIC
Sergey PROKOFIEV
(1891-1953)
Romeo and Juliet, Op. 64
(Highlights)
CLASSICAL MUSIC
Richard WAGNER (1813-1883)
Orchestral Excerpts, Vol. 1
Richard WAGNER (1813-1883)
Orchestral Excerpts, Vol. 2
This selection of some of Wagner’s
finest orchestral excerpts opens
with the ‘storm-swept ballad’ of Der
fliegende Holländer, the opera which
launched his epoch-defining later
masterpieces. The entire span of Der
Ring des Nibelungen is represented
in this programme, from the luminous
rainbow bridge which leads the gods to Valhalla in Das Rheingold,
the urgent drama of Die Walküre, and the atmospheric repose of the
Forest Murmurs in Siegfried, to the tragic depths of Siegfried’s Funeral
March. This recording has been praised for its ‘radiant sensuousness’.
(Gramophone) Volumes 2 and 3 in this series are available on
8.572768 and 8.572769.
Under the dual influences of Goethe
and Berlioz, Wagner wrote A Faust
Overture in Paris. Years later, in
1855, he returned to the work,
revising it to create an even greater
sense of drama and narrative
conviction. In the excerpts from his
romantic opera Lohengrin we hear the visionary Prelude to Act I and
the Act III Prelude, which includes the well-known Wedding March.
Elsa’s Dream is sung by the internationally acclaimed soprano,
Alessandra Marc. The orchestral music from Parsifal contains some of
the most transcendent music Wagner ever wrote. Volumes 1 and 3 in
this series are available on 8.572767 and 8.572769.
Seattle Symphony • Gerard Schwarz
8.572767
Alessandra Marc (soprano) • Seattle
Symphony • Gerard Schwarz
8.572768
Robert SCHUMANN
(1810-1856)
Symphony No. 1 in B flat
major, Op. 38, ‘Spring’
Symphony No. 2 in C major,
Op. 61
Robert SCHUMANN
(1810-1856)
Symphony No. 3 in E flat
major, Op. 97, ‘Rhenish’
Symphony No. 4 in D minor,
Op. 120
Seattle Symphony • Gerard Schwarz
Seattle Symphony • Gerard Schwarz
Faced with the challenge of following
in Beethoven’s giant symphonic
footsteps, Robert Schumann
acknowledged this musical predecessor, but expanded his forms and
structures into new and impassioned utterances. Inspired “by the
spirit of spring”, the Symphony No. 1 was swiftly composed and was
a huge success at its première in 1841. The Symphony No. 2 had a
longer gestation, but for many has become a symphonic song of praise
and rejoicing for which “Gerard Schwarz and his Seattle Symphony
Orchestra serve as excellent guides”.(Gramophone)
8.571212
The last of Schumann’s Symphonies
to be composed, Symphony No. 3
‘Rhenish’ was most likely inspired
by a cruise taken by the composer and his wife down the river Rhine.
Alternating between austere splendour, great rhythmic suppleness
and soaring lines, the work is an aural depiction of rural life by the
river and the majestic cathedral in Cologne, and one that dares to
reflect tensions between Classical form and Romantic innovation. So
too does Symphony No. 4, cast in four seamless movements that
show Schumann’s masterly command of interrelated material and of
symphonic unity.
8.571213
Robert SCHUMANN (1810-1856)
Manfred, Op. 115: Overture
Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54
Overture, Scherzo and Finale, Op. 52
Bella Davidovich (piano) • Seattle Symphony • Gerard Schwarz
Robert Schumann drew inspiration from other leading Romantic voices of his day, and Manfred is the dramatic
overture to a work based on verses by Lord Byron. Schumann’s wife Clara was an extremely accomplished
musician, and the Piano Concerto in A minor is one of the most eloquent and highly regarded legacies of their
relationship. Lacking only a slow movement, the Overture, Scherzo and Finale is a symphony in all but name.
Gramophone described these performances as “extremely fine”.
8.571214
Johann Sebastian BACH
H-Moll Messe
Orchestre de l’Opéra d’Etat de Vienne
Wiener Akademie Kammerchor
Hermann Scherchen (conductor)
Pierrette Alarie (soprano I)
Nan Merriman (soprano II & contralto)
Leopold Simoneau (tenor)
Gustav Neidlinger (bass)
Franz Holetscheck (harpsichord)
With his B minor Mass, Bach confided
to humanity a work of universal artistic and spiritual greatness and
one of the most important examples of human creation. It reaches well
beyond Bach’s religious spirituality that he, a true believer, transmitted
using his ingenious harmonic and contrapuntal skill. It guides us
towards another form of spirituality in which spirit tries to transcend
matter and in which hope becomes infused into a spiritual experience
that goes far beyond the human condition. This work induced man
to develop his intellectual and emotional skills and to rise towards a
superior state of consciousness. Bach never heard this work in its
entirety; and it took Romanticism to renew interest in this work, so the
entire Mass was performed in concert in 1835 in Frankfurt. Ever since,
the resulting fame and recognition helped to give the B minor Mass the
place it deserves.
TAH737.38 (2 CDs)
4
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN
Symphony n°3 - Eroica
Wilhelm Furtwängler
Wiener Philharmoniker
Whilst rehearsing at the Salzburg
Festival, Furtwängler again caught
pneumonia and didn’t put foot into
a concert hall for five months. He
was to conduct Nozze di Figaro,
Zauberflöte and Othello. He started
the 1952-1953 season with a great
recording session in Vienna for “His master’s voice” that lasted from
24 November to 3 December: the Vienna Philarmonic recorded in the
“Muiskvereinssaal” four Beethoven symphonies (Pastorale, the Fourth,
the First, and Eroica), as well as the “Tannhaüser” overture. During
this recording session, Furtwängler gave two concertson 29 and 30
November, the second one’s being recorded by ORF in excellent
sound conditions and released by Tahra in 2003 (Furt 1076-1077,
deleted). The program included Beethoven’s First, Malher’s “Lieder
eines fahrenden Gesellen” with Alfred Poell, and “Eroica”. Thanks to
the analogic tapes, we are releasing it again on SACD.
TAH2011
JUL-AUG 2012
Music for Oboe and Piano between
1935 and 1941
Birgit Schmieder (oboe & English horn)
Akiko Yamashita (piano)
This collection of duos for oboe
(specifically cor anglais) and piano
by Benjamin Britten, Pavel Haas,
Paul Hindemith and Nikos Skalkottas
are not only interrelated by the
period in which they arose – the
years 1935-1941 – but also as haunting documents of musical paths
through an increasingly gloomy time.
Audite 92.539
Songs of Smaller Creatures
and other American choral
works
Grant Park Chorus
Christopher Bell (conductor)
Conducted by Christopher Bell,
Chicago’s Grant Park Chorus is “as
fine a symphony chorus as any to
be found anywhere in the nation”
(Chicago Tribune). Celebrating its
50th season, the chorus makes its a
cappella CD debut with an all-American program of eight imaginative,
moving, and sometimes whimsical works written between 1975 and
2005, including four world premieres.
CDR 90000 131
Stainless Staining
Lisa MOORE
Commissioned by Lisa Moore with funds provided by the Arts Council of Ireland, the title track, Stainless Staining
was written for piano and soundtrack. The soundtrack is made up of samples of a piano retuned to provide a
massive harmonic spectrum of 100 overtones based on a fundamental low G#. Explains the composer, “This
reflects an increasing recent concern of mine with a kind of pulsating, rhythmic use of the overtone series.
That concern can range from a rather extreme concentration in this piece and Bulb ( a piano trio where pulsing
glissandos connect nodes in the harmonic series) to a more integrated approach in the large scale vocal and
instrumental pieces, where that approach is used often in a looser fashion only in particular areas.”
CA21062
OCKEGHEM
Missa Caput
OCKEGHEM
Missa Cuiusvis Toni
The Clerks’ Group
Edward Wickham
The Clerks’ Group
Edward Wickham
CDGAU186
SMETANA
String Quartets
BIBER
The Mystery Sonatas (Vol.1)
Lindsay String Quartet
Monica Huggett
Sonnerie
CDDCA777
BRAHMS & SCHUMANN
Piano Quintets
Peter Frankl
Lindsay String Quartet
CDDCA728
JUL-AUG 2012
CDGAU189
CDGAU350
WEBER
Clarinet Concerto No.1
Emma Johnson
English Chamber Orchestra
Yan Pascal Tortelier
CDDCA585
5
CLASSICAL MUSIC
Temporal Variations
CLASSICAL MUSIC
KOSHKIN
Megaron Concerto
Elena Papandreou (guitar)
Singapore Symphony Orchestra
Lan Shui
New Hellenic Quartet
Angelos Liakakis (cello)
For some fifteen years, the Russian
composer Nikita Koshkin and the
Greek guitarist Elena Papandreou have
enjoyed a rewarding collaboration,
with solo pieces such as the Guitar Sonata and Kyparissous, both from
1998, among the earliest fruits. Dedicated to Elena Papandreou, these
works formed part of a solo recital released by her in 2003, along with
what probably remains the composer’s most famous piece: Usher Waltz.
Koshkin’s music typically combines drama with humour and parody, and
regularly includes references to legends and fairy-tales, as well as to music
of other periods or genres. He often uses extended playing techniques
achieving avant-garde effects, but is also inspired by popular music. On
the present disc, all four works are world première recordings, and three of
them were written with Elena Papandreou in mind.
BIS-CD-1846
GRUBER & SCHWERTSIK:
Works for trumpet and
orchestra
Håkan Hardenberger (trumpet)
Swedish Chamber Orchestra
HK Gruber
Mats Bergström (banjo)
Claudia Buder (accordion)
The common denominator of the
three works presented here is the
soloist Håkan Hardenberger. In 1999,
the celebrated trumpet player asked HK Gruber to arrange his 3 MOB
Pieces for trumpet and orchestra, and eight years later Gruber wrote
the concerto Busking while his long-time collaborator Kurt Schwertsik
wrote Divertimento Macchiato, both on Hardenberger’s initiative. In
the 1960s Schwertsik and Gruber became known as ambassadors
of the ‘Third Viennese School’ – a grouping which originated as a
reaction against the total serialism of Darmstadt-centred avant-garde.
One of the first manifestations of this was the ‘MOB art & tone ART’
Ensemble, in which the two composers and their friends performed
new music of a deliberately informal, un-solemn sort. With influences
as diverse as the neo-classicism of Stravinsky, the Beatles and the
cabaret music by Hanns Eisler and Kurt Weill, the MOB Pieces,
composed in 1968, are a perfect illustration of this. Gruber’s work
has always shown a strong connection with various kinds of popular
music, and his concerto Busking is another example. In each of its
three movements the soloist plays a trumpet in a different key, with the
accompaniment of an accordion, a banjo and strings.
BIS-CD-1884
DVOŘÁK
Symphony No.8
Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra
Claus Peter Flor
With his Seventh Symphony, Dvořák
had proved that he could compose
a ‘respectable’ symphony (as he
himself termed it), and had done so
to both critical and public acclaim.
Four years later, when he began to
work on its successor, he apparently
felt free to return to a more familiar idiom, and after the serious
Seventh – which Dvořák at one stage had considered giving the
nickname ‘Tragic’ – Symphony No.8 was a lighter work, with its roots
firmly planted in the composer’s beloved Czech folklore. It is probably
the freest of his mature symphonies from a formal point of view, and
has interesting parallels with Mahler’s First Symphony, which was
premièred shortly after Dvořák had completed his own work. Imitations
of the sounds of nature, pastoral subjects and fanfares feature in both
symphonies, and both evoke a funeral march and a chorale. The work
is here coupled with the symphonic poem The Golden Spinning Wheel,
based on an epic poem by the Czech poet Karel Erben. Complete with
a wicked stepmother, a dismembering and a magic spinning wheel
of gold, this rather cruel fairy-tale is followed by the shorter Scherzo
capriccioso.
BIS-SACD-1976
6
The Trio Sonata in
18th-Century France
London Baroque
With the previous instalment of their
survey of the trio sonata during the
17th and 18th centuries, the four
members of London Baroque offered
up what the website klassik-heute.de
described as ‘a delightful palette full
of grace and esprit’, presenting music
by composers active in 18th-century
England. Crossing the Channel, they have now arrived in France,
and a musical environment undergoing rapid changes following the
death of Louis XIV in 1715. The rigours of the Grand Siècle were
relaxing and the stiff resistance against the Italian influences of Corelli
was weakening. In 1725 François Couperin published his famous
Apothéose de Lulli, in which he advocated a fusion of the Italian and
French styles, and the following year saw the collection Les Nations,
which included L’Impériale recorded here. In it Couperin continued his
mission, combining an Italian-style sonata with a sequence of dances
in the French manner.
BIS-CD-1855
Italian Virtuosi of the
Chitarrone
Jakob Lindberg (chitarrone)
Its overall length (upwards of 160
cm) and great number of strings (up
to 16 courses) makes the chitarrone
one of the more spectacular
instruments of the early baroque.
The name probably means ‘large
kithara’, after the instrument played
by the Classical Greek poets, and it
was first developed as a bass lute in order to accompany singing and
recitative – indeed it appears to have become the favourite instrument
in Italy for accompanying the voice by 1600. It also enjoyed a shortlived but rich flowering as a solo instrument, however, to which the
three virtuosi of the album title all contributed greatly, as performers
as well as composers. Between 1604 and 1640, Giovanni Girolamo
Kapsperger (also known as Johann Hieronymus Kapsberger),
Alessandro Piccinini and Bellerofonte Castaldi published a number of
collections of chitarrone music, from which Jakob Lindberg has chosen
some favourite dances, arias, toccatas and passacaglias. Combined
into seven suites, they provide rich opportunity to enjoy the particular
timbre and the special playing techniques of this splendid instrument,
the chitarrone. Highly regarded both for his live performances and
his many recordings, Jakob Lindberg has a long-standing interest in
the many varieties of lutes, including lute mandorée, orpharion and
archlute, and has now dedicated himself to researching their relative
– research which informs both the performances and Lindberg’s own
liner notes.
BIS-CD-1899
Curse upon Iron
Orphei Drängar male-voice choir
Cecilia Rydinger Alin
A modern shaman is how Veljo
Tormis (b.1930) has been described.
In his large production, chiefly
composed for a cappella choir, he
utilizes ancient chants and magic
charms, as well as the typically
Estonian runic songs, regilaulud.
Indeed Curse upon Iron, his bestknown score, even includes a
shaman drum. Much of the music of Tormis, who began composing
during the 1950s, mirrors his steadfast devotion to an Estonian identity
in the face of Soviet occupation, with traditional ways of life, such as
farming and fishing, resonating in pieces such as Helletused – based
on ancient herding calls – Spell upon Flax (from the three Shrovetide
songs) and Songs of the Ancient Sea. But there are also works,
such as the two Hamlet’s Songs, that seem to echo the bleak mood
of Soviet Estonia, while The Viru Oath is one of Tormis’s most overtly
political compositions, written in 1980 during the so-called ‘stagnation
period’ in which the thaw following Stalin’s death was halted. With
Stars, from Kaksikpühendus (Double Dedication), the disc closes on a
more lyrical and personal note – another strand in the composer’s rich
repertoire.
BIS-SACD-1993
JUL-AUG 2012
Composed and conducted by Carl Davis
The freshly polished silver sparkles in the light of the chandelier; the fragrance of fresh flowers fills the air. Set in
the year preceding the Second World War, 165 Eaton Place reopens its doors and welcomes you back into the
enrapturing lives of its inhabitants, both upstairs and down.
There may be two families living in 165 - one upstairs and one down - but their fates are intimately linked. With
both upstairs and down harbouring life changing secrets and the menace of war creeping ever closer, the smooth
running of Eaton Place threatens to come crashing to shattering halt.
CDC018
Mieczyslaw WEINBERG
(1919-1996)
String Quartets Vol. 6
Quatuor Danel
Vol. 6 marks the completion of the
Mieczyslaw Weinberg String Quartet
series on cpo. The interpretation of
the Belgian Danel Quartet can only
be described as a true windfall. This
volume featuring the early Quartet No.
2 of 1939 and the last Quartet No. 17
from 1986 offers an overview of Weinberg’s entire oeuvre. 777587-2
Anton ARENSKY (1861-1902)
Five Suites for Two Pianos
Piano Duo Genova & Dimitrov
Claudio Abbado has termed Aglika
Genova and Liuben Dimitrov “The
piano duo of the young generation”,
and the two have indeed come to
be regarded as one of today’s most
sought-after piano duos worldwide.
On their latest CD they interpret
suites by Anton Arensky.
777651-2
Carl REINTHALER (1822-1896)
Das Käthchen von Heilbronn
Richard Carlucci, Ilia Papandreou, Peter Schöne, Máté Sólyom-Nagy; Marisca Mulder,
Opernchor des Theaters Erfurt,
Philharmonisches Orchester Erfurt
Samuel Bächli
Cpo are proud to present the rediscovery of the opera Das Käthchen von Heilbronn by Carl Reinthaler, a work
based on the drama of the same name by Heinrich von Kleist. Samuel Baechli, the music director of the stage
production and the CD recording, is convinced that this production will inspire the renaissance of the almost
entirely forgotten Reinthaler.
777474-2 (2 CDs)
Per NØRGÅRD (b. 1932)
Libra
Danish National Vocal Ensemble
Fredrik Malmberg (conductor)
Per Nørgård
Stefan Östersjö (guitar)
Adam Riis (tenor)
This CD features three of the
composer Per Nørgård’s (b. 1932)
most captivating vocal works in new
recordings with the Danish National
Vocal Ensemble conducted by Fredrik Malmberg. In marvelous musical
landscapes, we encounter the composer in his most cosmic and
prophetic vein, with the human voice as a catalyst of new awareness in
both the musical and universal sense.
6.220622
Per NØRGÅRD (b. 1932)
The Will-o’-the-Wisps in Town
Helene Gjerris (mezzo soprano)
Athelas Sinfonietta Copenhagen
The Will-o’-the-Wisps in Town is an
extraordinary fairy tale cantata created
by the Danish composer Per Nørgård
and his close friend, author Suzanne
Brøgger, on the basis of a little known
fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen.
This world première recording of
the chamber version focuses on the charismatic “Marsh Witch”, sung
by mezzo-soprano Helene Gjerris who also premiered the work in
Birmingham at 200th anniversary of Hans Christian Andersen’s birth.
8.226085
JUL-AUG 2012
Per NØRGÅRD (b. 1932)
Sceneries for percussion
and ensemble
Esbjerg Ensemble
Christian Martínez (percussion)
Petter Sundkvist (conductor)
The Danish composer Per Nørgård
(b. 1932) finds inspiration for his
outstanding percussion music in the
forces of nature, eastern mysticism
and exotic rhythms. In the four
works on this CD we encounter a melodic side to percussion, when
for instance the soloist uses a violin bow to play the vibraphone and
the musical saw. Two of the works were written especially for the
Colombian-born percussionist Christian Martínez, who plays here with
the Esbjerg Ensemble conducted by Petter Sundkvist.
8.226092
Vagn HOLMBOE (1909-96)
Chamber Symphonies
Lapland Chamber Orchestra
John Storgårds
These are World premiere recordings
of Vagn Holmboe’s 3 masterly
chamber symphonies, performed by
an expert Finnish team. The Finnish
conductor John Storgårds really
stands out. In 2008 John Storgårds
was appointed chief conductor of the
Helsinki Philharmonic, one of Scandinavia’s best and most traditionrich orchestras. He is also artistic director of the magical Lapland
Chamber Orchestra and since 2012 Principal Guest Conductor of BBC
Philharmonic.
6.220621
7
CLASSICAL MUSIC
The Music of ‘Upstairs Downstairs’ Series Two
CLASSICAL MUSIC
Alexandre DANILEVSKI
The Uncertainty Principle
Larissa Groeneveld
Ensemble Syntagma
The Uncertainty Principle is a journey into the mystical musical world of Russian composer Alexandre Danilevski,
where music and instruments from the middle ages to modern day meet and create an unexpectedly beautiful
soundscape. Danilevskis’ compositions are at the same time refering to ancient sources and to modern art and
science, moving through centuries of musical and aesthetic developments with ease and free of conventional
restrictions regarding musical styles and paradigmas.
On this recording, Danilvski’s own ensemble Syntagma interprets two of his works for mixed ensemble and voice,
while the Flanders Recorder Quartet plays his Antiphones and cellist Larissa Groeneveld presents Revelation, a concerto for cello solo.
CD-16291
François COUPERIN
Works for Harpsichord
Blandine Verlet (harpsichord)
Blandine Verlet is now one of the last living legends of the harpsichord. After a few years of absence, she has
joined the label Aparté with a programme dedicated to Francois Couperin’s harpsichord music, recorded on a
sumptuous Hemsch of 1751 upon which she already performed Goldberg Variations in 1993.
Throughout these pieces with evocative titles (Les Amusements, the Raphaèle, the Delights, the Poppies, the
Wandering Shadows ..) she reveals an artist with a voice more than inspired, powerful and constantly renewed.
The cover of the disc is a portrait of Blandine Verlet by Craig Hanna. A real event!
AP036 (2 CDs)
Karl WOLFRUM (1856-1937)
Organ Sonatas
Halgeir Schiager
Sauer Organ of the Luther Church
Chemnitz
Karl Wolfrum’s three organ sonatas
were written before the turn of the
twentieth century.
In all three sonatas, the composer
tried a heterogeneous approach:
technically, his works followed Bach, dramatically, the narrative
concepts of the New German School and in terms of sound and
aesthetics, a subtle use of the instrument’s solo voices and dynamic
differentiation.
OehmsClassics now presents a recording with Norwegian organist
Halgeir Schiager that was made in June 2011 in the Lutheran Church
in Chemnitz in co-production with the Bavarian Radio Broadcasting
Corporation.
Giovanni Benedetto PLATTI
(1697-1763)
Sonatas for violoncello,
violin and harpsichord
Sebastian Hess (cello)
Rüdiger Lotter (violin)
Florian Birsak (basso continou)
Giovanni Benedetto Platti, a
previously lesser known musician from
the first half of the eighteenth century,
was an “oboista”, an oboe virtuoso at the Court of the Prince-Bishop of
Würzburg. He came from Northern Italy, lived in Venice during his youth,
and in 1722 – together with a number of his fellow Italians – responded
to the call of the Würzburg regent, who wished to lend his royal chapel
the brilliance that only Italian music could provide. Platti came to the city
on the Main River; after his employer’s death only two years later, he
continued to remain under his successors.
OC416
Gustav MAHLER
Symphony No. 6 in A Minor
Philharmoniker Hamburg
Simone Young (conductor)
Mahler’s Sixth Symphony was
premiered by the Essen Philharmonic
in Essen on May 27, 1906. The
composer conducted the performance
himself. Astonishingly, he only led
it two subsequent times: in 1906 in
Munich and in 1907 in Vienna.
The common nickname “Tragic Symphony” was only officially used
once (at the first performance in Vienna) and then never again; it did
not make its way into published editions of the score.
OC413 (2 CDs)
8
OC836
Richard WAGNER
Götterdämmerung
Lance Ryan • Susan Bullock
Johannes Martin Kränzle • Claudia
Mahnke and others
Frankfurt Opera and Museum
Orchestra • Frankfurt Opera
Chorus
Sebastian Weigle (conductor)
“Completed in Wahnfried on
November 21, 1874. I say nothing further!!” With these words written
at the bottom of his Götterdämmerung score, Wagner thus finished
his composition of the entire Ring Cycle. The Frankfurt Opera also
concluded Vera Nemirova’s highly praised production of the work in
January, thus raising the bar for the coming Wagner year 2013. The
Frankfurter Allgemeine even claimed in its review of the premiere
of Götterdämmerung that the two Wagner sisters in Bayreuth might
want to “dress warmly during the coming season”!
OC938 (4 CDs)
JUL-AUG 2012
Cuarteto Casals
Vera Martínez Mehner (violin)
Abel Tomàs Realp (violin)
Jonathan Brown (viola)
Arnau Tomàs Realp (violoncello)
For their first incursion into the works
of Schubert on disc, the members
of the Cuarteto Casals invite us to
discover two quartets situated at the two extremes of the composer’s
life. Wrongly dated much later on its publication in 1830, the Quartet
in E flat is in fact the work of a 16-year-old musician who had just
entered teacher training college . . . whereas its companion here was
to be Schubert’s very last quartet. Only thirteen years separate the two
pieces! But in the meantime a whole “world” had invaded his musical
consciousness, and here the naivety of G major throws a deceptive
veil over inner upheavals.
HMC902121
CAGE. Litany for the Whale
Paul Hillier
Theatre of Voices
Terry Riley
“I have been performing, reading,
looking at, and listening to John
Cage’s work for years — I number
myself amongst those who consider
him to be an important composer and
not simply an important influence.
One of the earliest Theatre of Voices
concerts, at London’s Almeida Festival in 1990, was devoted primarily
to Cage’s music, and, since then, I seem to have been working toward
this recording.” – Paul Hillier
HMU907279
Jean-Philippe RAMEAU
Symphonies for two
harpsichords
Pierre Hantai (harpsichord)
Skip Sempe (harpsichord)
The numerous instrumental pieces or
‘Symphonies’ found in the dramatic
works of Rameau are remarkably
effective on the harpsichord: the
composer himself, with his transcription of ‘Les Indes Galantes’
invited other musicians to continue this tradition. Seizing on
the formidable array of material available in his operas: Platée,
Zoroastre, Dardanus, Les Paladins, Pygmalion... Pierre Hantai and
Skip Sempé, our finest exponents of this repertoire, take obvious
pleasure in revealing, through the two harpsichords, the immense
richness of this music, full of surprises and imagination.
MIR164
Edvard GRIEG & Antonin
DVOŘÁK: Piano concertos
Svjatoslav Richter (piano)
Svjatoslav Richter (1915-97) has left
behind the extraordinary image of
a highly sensitive, angst-ridden yet
ultimately serene musician, a true
“monstre sacré”, a perfectionist in
search of the absolute. This duo of
“nationalist” concertos by Grieg and
Dvorak featured only briefly in his
repertoire. The uncharacteristic liberty of his playing and the sense of
exultation is astounding, illuminating this romantic composition based
on imaginary song and dance national folklore. They form a unique,
totally unprecedented combination.
PRD/PSD350058
JUL-AUG 2012
Thierry Pécou
Tremendum
Ensemble Variances
Percussions Claviers de Lyon
Thierry Pécou
This CD is the third harmonia mundi
recording of music by Thierry Pécou,
whose acclaimed Symphonie du
Jaguar won a Diapason d’Or of the
Year 2010.
This composer of Caribbean descent has consistently extended his
sources of inspiration to Latin America and notably in the direction
of Mexico, of which we hear echoes in L’Arbre aux fleurs and SoleilTigre. But it is Brazil that lies at the origin of the ‘carnival concerto’
Tremendum, the main work in the programme, presented here in a new
version specially made by Pécou for the Percussions Claviers de Lyon
and the Ensemble Variances.
HMC905269
Imogen HOLST : Choral Works
Choir of Clare College Cambridge
The Dmitri Ensemble
Graham Ross (conductor)
Imogen Holst, the daughter of
Gustav Holst, has long deserved
recognition for her significant body of
compositions, written throughout her
life. Graham Ross conducts the choir
of Clare College, Cambridge and the
instrumentalists of the Dmitri Ensemble
in these world première recording of a selection of Holst’s choral works
ranging from 1927 to 1972, three of which have not been heard since their
first performance, together with the first recording of her imaginative and
skillful orchestration of Benjamin Britten’s Festival Cantata “Rejoice in the
lamb”, made at Britten’s own request.
HMU907576
Mily Balakirev
Piano Sonata in B flat minor
Etsuko Hirose (piano)
Mily Balakirev (1837-1910), founder
and driving force of the celebrated
“Mighty Handful”, spared no effort
in his devotion to his followers, and
thus left only a relatively modest
number of work on his own. The
piano occupies a preponderant
place in his output, with the Russian style rubbing shoulders with
with inluences of Chopin and Liszt. While Islamey has always figured
in the virtuoso repertoire, other pieces deserve to be rediscovered,
including the Toccata, the Sonata, and the Variations on themes by
Glinka, the “Father of Russian music”, who saw in Balakirev a worthy
successor.
MIR181
Dimitri SHOSTAKOVICH
Three Concertos
David Oistrakh (violin)
Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra
Evgeni Mravinsky (conductor)
Together for the first time, three
acclaimed concertos performed
by the soloists who made them
famous - dedicatees and performers
D. Oistrakh and M. Rostropovitch,
and then Leonard Bernstein himself,
pianist, conductor and composer with the less beloved Concerto
Op.102. Lenny has produced a successful rendering of this curios
cocktail - a tribute to Rococo style Bach, an entranced romantic
andante along with a caricature of Prokofiev style virtuoso piano in the
opening and closing allegros.
PRD/PSD350059
9
CLASSICAL MUSIC
Franz SCHUBERT
String Quartets
CLASSICAL MUSIC
Howard Shore & Metric
Cosmopolis
Howard Shore Collector’s
Edition Vol.1
Howe Records is pleased to
announce the inaugural release of
their new Collector’s Edition Series
from the vaults of Grammy Awardwinning composer Howard Shore.
Album series producer Jonathan
Schultz has uncovered thousands
of recordings documenting Shore’s
career of composing original
scores, concert pieces, chamber music and songs. Access to some
of this material requires expert restoration of analog tapes in which
reels are carefully baked and calibrated, splices are repaired and
original balances are replicated or adjusted as needed to make this
music available. Volume One launches the series with a collection of
unreleased recordings, some from films and many pieces that have
never been heard in any form. The first four tracks are from the score
to the Martin Scorsese film After Hours and the last track is from the
Diane Keaton documentary Heaven. These five tracks showcase Shore
as both musician and performer. The middle tracks of the disc (tracks
5-11) have never been heard before. These compositions are unique,
jazz influenced pieces with captivating solos for guitar and harmonica
with orchestra. Collector’s Edition Volume 1 is just the beginning - there
is much more to explore.
Metric
The soundtrack for Cosmopolis
reunites composer Howard Shore
and the band METRIC for another
cinematic collaboration. While writing
the score for David Cronenberg’s
film adaptation of the Don DeLillo
novel Cosmopolis, Shore conceived
of a particular live sound to achieve
his vision and invited METRIC to perform the score and co-write three
songs. The music was recorded in November 2011 at the band’s own
Giant Studios in Toronto, produced by Howard Shore and METRIC
guitarist Jimmy Shaw, and mixed by John O’Mahony at Liberty
Studios in Toronto and Electric Lady Studios in NYC. The result is an
atmospheric, urban soundscape of analog synths and layered guitars
featuring the hypnotic vocals of METRIC lead singer Emily Haines.
The Cosmopolis soundtrack also features “Mecca” by Somali Singer/
Rapper K’NAAN with lyrics by the artist and Don DeLillo.The film stars
Robert Pattinson (of Twilight fame), Juliette Binoche, Samantha Morton
and Paul Giamatti.
HWR1003
HWR1008
Howard Shore : Collector’s Edition 2
Soul of the Ultimate Nation
National Philharmonic of Russia • Academy of Choral Arts
Irina Komarova • Ecaterina Popova • Lydia Kavina • Vera Volnukhina • Ludmila Golub
I began writing the score for “Soul of the Ultimate Nation” (SUN) in the summer of 2004. I throught the game
had a wonderfully detailed conception and design by Nam Joo Kim. In November 2004 I conducted a concert
of “The Lord of the Rings Symphony” at the Kremlin in Moscow with Vladimir Spivakov’s orchestra the
National philharmonic of Russia and Victor’s Popov’s Academy of Choral Arts. Following the Moscow concert
I traveled with the orchestra and chorus to Tokyo for SUN at this time and while in Japan I decided I wanted
to write the piece specifically for thisorchestra and chorus. I wanted the chorus to sing in ancient Korean as a
way to express the world of SUN. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to bring together the western and eastern concepts of the game.
The score was recorded at the Moscow Performing Arts Center so I could work with their amazing organist Ludmila Golub. I also brought
in the renowned Russian thereminist Lydia Kavina. She was living in Moscow at the time and I wanted to work with her again. We have
previously collaborated together on both “Ed Wood” and “eXistenZ”. Other featured soloists were Vera Volnukhina on Shakuhachi and the
great vocal soloists Irina Komarova and Ecaterina Popova.
The pieces were composed as tone poems to express the different characters, cultures and the world of the game.
HWR1006
Serynade
Ellen Ugelvik (piano)
Ellen Ugelvik received the Norwegian Grammy Award (Spellemannprisen) in 2008 for her debut CD ‘Makrokosmos’.
On ‘Serynade’, she explores further the resonance opportunities of the grand piano. The starting point is Helmut
Lachenmann´s gigantic piece for piano.
The work ‘Serynade’ by Helmut Lachenmann is rarely performed because of its extreme difficulty. The pianist plays
two music pieces on top of each another, one piece reverberating out in the room, while the other piece is mutely
pressed down into the musical keyboard. The result is that the mute music piece appears in the shadows of the
work performed, as a deep, vibrating resonance in the distance or as large vibrations of the audible tones. Ellen
Ugelvik performed Lachenmann’s piano concerto ‘Ausklang’ with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and Christian
Eggen in 2010, and her rendition of the concert was nominated for the Norwegian Critics Prize for Music.
ACD5061
10
JUL-AUG 2012
Francisco Fiorentino (vocal) • Astor Piazzolla (bandonéon, arrangements & direction) • Roberto Di Filippo
(bandonéon) • Angel Genta (bandonéon) • Fernando Tell (bandonéon) • Hugo Baralis (violin) • Ernesto Gianni
(violin) • Juan Bibiloni (violin) • Oscar Lucero (violin) • Carlos Figari (piano) • Angel Molo (cello)
Pepe Diaz or Valentín Andreotta (bass)
A prolific period, during which Astor Piazzolla carved out his own musical aesthetic, as personal as it is universal,
and raised Tango to the ranks of classical music without causing it to lose any of its force, its character, its
originality or its roots. The clear break he brought about by shaking up the musical codes of Tango felt like sacrilege
to the older generation, but like a much-needed revolution to those who dreamed of modernity. The second real
icon in the history of Argentinian music alongside Carlos Gardel, Astor Piazzolla, like his illustrious forefather, left his
imprint on this style of music in spite of its rules, which were anchored in a set of seemingly immutable traditions.
“Astor Piazzolla turned Tango into more than just the music of one nation and one people; he made it into a universal art on a par with the works of
Johann Sebastian Bach and Claude Debussy. Like Orpheus descending into the underworld to seek Eurydice, Piazzolla tracked Tango down to the
hidden places where the Guardia Vieja were keeping it a jealously guarded secret, and brought it up into the daylight so he could share it with the
world…. Except that he never turned around, so his Eurydice is still alive and well!”
Juan Esteban Alvarez de Molina
5742200.07 (8 CDs)
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN: Symphonie n°3
Maurice RAVEL: Valses
The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra
Giuseppe Sinopoli (conductor)
It was Beethoven’s original intention that his third symphony should be entitled “Bonaparte”, in honour of Napoleon
Bonaparte. But when Napoleon crowned himself ‘Emperor’ he became, in Beethoven’s eyes, “only another
tyrannical despot”. Beethoven finally named it “Sinfonia Eroica” (Italian for Heroic Symphony) “composed in honour
of a great man”.
From its title, in which two Waltz cycles by Schubert are mentioned (Valses Nobles and Valses Sentimentales), it
is clear that it was Ravel’s intention to compose a sequence of waltzes based on Schubert. Like many of Ravel’s
works, it was first written for piano and later orchestrated by the composer.
HEL029653
The Unknown Enescu,
Volume One: Music for Violin
Sherban Lupu, violin (conductor) •
Masumi Per Rostad (viola) • Marin
Cazacu (cello) • Dmitry Kouzov
(cello) • Ian Hobson (piano) • Ilinca
Dumitrescu (piano) • Samir Golescu
(piano) • Enescu Ensemble of the
University of Illinois (ensemble)
George Enescu (1881–1955) is one
of the great composers, although
the world has yet to realise the extent of his achievements. Enescu’s
small published œuvre of 33 opus numbers belies the amount of
music he produced: he composed prolifically but, as he was both a
perfectionist and a busy performer, much of his music is still unknown.
This CD reveals solo, chamber and concertante pieces featuring the
violin, played by his fellow Romanian Sherban Lupu, who understands
Enescu’s idiom like few other musicians.
TOCC0047
Leo ORNSTEIN
Piano Music, Volume One
Arsentiy Kharitonov (piano)
The Russian-born American
composer Leo Ornstein (1893–2002)
lived long enough – an astonishing
109 years – to see his music
both fall into and re-emerge from
obscurity. His earliest surviving
work dates from around 1905; his
last was composed in 1990. Not
surprisingly, his music embraces a range of styles, ranging on this
first CD – in the first extended series devoted to his piano works –
from the atmospheric impressionism of the Four Impromptus via the
fiery virtuosity of the Fourth Piano Sonata to the Rachmaninov-like
Romanticism of the Cossack Impressions and In the Country.
TOCC0141
JUL-AUG 2012
David BRAID: Chamber and
Instrumental Music
Grace Davidson (soprano) • Peter
Cigleris (clarinet) • Yuri Kalnits (violin)
• Julia Morneweg (cello) • John Paul
Ekins (piano) • Sergei Podobedov
(piano) • Jelena Laković (piano) •
Tippett Quartet (string quartet) • Erato
Piano Trio (piano trio) • Rossitza
Stoycheva and Mikako Hori (piano duo)
The British composer David Braid,
born in North Wales in 1970, studied in London, Oxford and Kraków,
and his music shows something of that double inheritance, bringing
together the lyricism of such English composers as Dowland and the
dynamism of the Polish school of Lutosławski. This debut CD of his
music presents chamber and instrumental works written between
2006 and 2011. Steve Reich described the raga-like Morning for
soprano and string quartet – the Pablo Neruda setting which opens this
disc – as ‘beautifully done – very honest stuff’; the other works here
encompass a divergent range of moods, from the melancholy of Infinite
Reminiscence to the energetic drive of Music for Dancers.
TOCC0149
John PICKARD
Chamber Music
Rupert Marshall-Luck (violin, viola)
Sophie Harris (cello)
Ian Mitchell (bass clarinet)
Matthew Rickard (piano)
Reviews of music by the English
composer John Pickard (b. 1963)
have stated that ‘he has the
technique and the temperament
to emerge as one of the great
symphonists of the 21st century’, even that ‘his place among the
greats is secure’. This conspectus of his chamber music traces the
evolution of his style over two decades, from the Piano Trio of 1990 to
Snowbound of 2010, revealing a powerful rhythmic drive, a feeling for
toughly argued drama and a poetic sensitivity to atmosphere among
its most prominent characteristics.
TOCC0150
11
CLASSICAL MUSIC
Astor Piazzolla: Tanguísimo
CLASSICAL MUSIC
Two Lutes: Lute Duets from
England’s Golden Age
Ronn McFarlane & William Simms
As stated by Ronn McFarlane,
“Elizabethan lute duets yield the
most companionable and friendly
kind of music-making for the players.
In equal duets each lutenist plays
nearly the same music, alternating
playing the melody and the harmonic
accompaniment. It feels like a
conversation, with each lutenist posing musical questions and answers
throughout. Each player is free to improvise upon the written part, so
the conversation can be very individual and spontaneous! On the other
hand, in the treble-ground style of lute duet, one lutenist plays a single
line melodic part (usually including some virtuosic passages) while
the second lutenist plays a chordal accompaniment. Sometimes the
chordal accompaniment is very simple and repetitive, and it is likely
that a skilled player would vary his part to make a more musically
satisfying accompaniment.”
But Not Forgotten
Music by African-American
Composers for Clarinet &
Piano
Marcus Eley (clarinet)
Lucerne DeSa (piano)
Past and present come together
in this vibrant release from Sono
Luminus, But Not Forgotten: Music
by African-American Composers for
Clarinet & Piano, as clarinetist Marcus
Eley, and pianist Lucerne DeSa display the timeless class and musical
stylings of composers whose music runs rich with the knowledge and
desire of gifts to be returned through the notes on a page, and the
instrument in one’s hand.
J AZZ HIGH LIGHTS
DSL-92155
Cecilia Bertolini
Gotta Do It Right
Cecilia BERTOLINI (vocals)
Armel DUPAS (claves, piano)
Olivier LOUVEL (guitar)
Manuel MARCHES (bass)
Karl JANNUSKA (drums)
Sylvain GONTARD (trumpet)
Gotta Do It Right is the first album of the new French Jazz revelation Cecila Bertolini. She already won several
prices and her talent has been critically acclaimed.
BON120502
The Metaphysical Poets
AUDIO BOOKS
DSL-92156
John Donne, Andrew Marvell et al.
(Unabridged)
Read by Nicholas Boulton, Jonathan
Keeble and others
John Donne, Andrew Marvell,
George Herbert, Thomas Carew
and Henry Vaughan: these were
some of the 17th-century writers who
devised a new form of poetry full of
wit, intellect and grace, which we
now call Metaphysical poetry. They wrote about their deepest religious
feelings and their carnal pleasures in a way that was radically new and
challenging to their readers. Their work was largely misunderstood
or ignored for two centuries, until 20th-century critics rediscovered
it, finding in it a deep originality and a willingness to experiment that
made much conventional poetry look merely decorative. This collection
provides the perfect introduction to this diverse group of fascinating
poets.
NA0089
The History of the
Peloponnesian War
Thucydides (Abridged)
Read by Neville Jason
Thucydides’s History of the
Peloponnesian War is one of the
most famous, influential, and moving
works of genuine history in our
traditions. His brilliant account of the
civil war among the Greeks redefined
how we should analyse the past,
driving a permanent wedge between accounts based on myth and folk
traditions and those based on empirical investigation and a rational
enquiry into human motives. The work is also a profoundly tragic
illumination, not merely of the self-destructive events of the civil war,
but also of the future course of human history.
NA0069 (6 CDs)
Seven Pillars of Wisdom
T.E. Lawrence (Unabridged)
Read by Roy McMillan
Although T.E. Lawrence, commonly known as ‘Lawrence of Arabia’, died in 1935, the story of his life has captured
the imagination of succeeding generations. Seven Pillars of Wisdom is a monumental work in which he chronicles
his role in leading the Arab Revolt against the Turks during the First World War. A reluctant leader, and wracked by
guilt at the duplicity of the British, Lawrence nevertheless threw himself into his role, suffering the blistering desert
conditions and masterminding military campaigns which culminated in the triumphant march of the Arabs into
Damascus.
NA0070 (20 CDs)
12
JUL-AUG 2012
A Musical Journey:
CZECH REPUBLIC
A Musical Visit to Prague and
Lednice Castle
Music by Chabrier • Massenet • Glinka •
Rimsky-Korsakov
The Places • The musical tour of Spain
starts at the present capital, Madrid, the
principal city of Castile. From Madrid it
is not too far to the plains of La Mancha,
a region always remembered for its
association with the great hero of Miguel
Cervantes, Don Quijote de la Mancha,
whose windmills, mistaken by him for giants, form a characteristic
element in the landscape. The varied history of Spain is seen in the
city of Córdoba, once capital of a Moorish kingdom, and the gardens
of the Alcázar of the Christian Kings.
The Music • The music chosen for the tour of Spain may be
characteristically Spanish in its rhythms and turns of melody, but
is all the work of foreigners, two of the composers, Chabrier and
Massenet, French, and two of them, Glinka and Rimsky-Korsakov,
Russian. For France, geographically adjacent to Spain, there was an
obvious connection with Spain, which continued to exercise a certain
fascination over its neighbour. Russian composers in the 19th century
embarked on the creation of a new national music, but at the same
time drew on remoter countries for inspiration, whether on the different
regions of the vast Russian Empire or still further afield.
2.110308
Music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
The Places • The churches and palaces
of Prague are seen, with the great River
Vltava (the Moldau), which flows through
the city, the outline of city buildings
reflected in its waters. The Strahov
Monastery and the Villa Bertramka are
practical examples of Mozart’s contact
with Prague. On a visit to the monastery he improvised on the organ,
and at the Villa Bertramka he and his wife Constanze were guests of
the Czech composer Dušek. There is also a visit to Southern Moravia
and Lednice, with its Neo-Gothic castle, its folly, a slender minaret, in
its English gardens, with its trees and artificial lakes.
The Music • Mozart had happy memories of Prague. When, during
the last ten years of his life, circumstances in Vienna proved
increasingly difficult, he was always welcome in the Bohemian capital.
It was for Prague that he wrote his opera Don Giovanni in 1787 and
for Prague that he wrote one of his last operas, La clemenza di Tito,
commissioned for the coronation of Leopold II as King of Bohemia,
and for his unappreciative wife, who described the work as ‘porchería
tedesca’, German porkery. Prague continues to honour Mozart in
various festivals, concerts and memorabilia.
2.110309
A Musical Journey: AUSTRIA / BELGIUM
A Musical Visit to Salzburg and Vienna, Brussels and Tournai
‘Requiem’ by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
The Places • The tour relates to the life of Mozart, from his native Salzburg to his final precarious independence in
Vienna. There are glimpses of the Salzburg Church of St Peter and of the Cathedral, with which Mozart and his father,
members of the musical establishment of the ruling Prince-Archbishops of Salzburg, were closely concerned. Memorials
of Mozart and other composers are seen in Vienna, while a brief detour to Belgium to the idiosyncratic Musée Wiertz
and to the Tournai Musée des Beaux Arts, brings another aspect to the journey.
The Music • Mozart’s Requiem Mass was commissioned anonymously in July 1791 by Count Franz Walsegg zu
Stuppach, who sought to commemorate the recent death of his wife by the performance of a work of this kind that he
might, at least by implication, claim as his own. An initial fee of sixty ducats was paid, with promise of a further sum when
the Requiem was completed. But in November Mozart was taken ill and within a fortnight he was dead. His widow, Constanze, who needed the rest
of the fee for the work, asked Joseph Eybler, who had assisted Mozart in rehearsals for Così fan tutte, to finish the composition and the scoring. He
later gave up the task and the unfinished score finally came into the hands of Franz Xaver Süssmayr, so that the best known form of the Requiem is
that started by Mozart, continued briefly by Eybler and completed by Süssmayr.
2.110333
RENZO PIANO
PIECE BY PIECE
Anton BRUCKNER
Symphony No. 8
Christopher Tuckfield
It is often said of the world famous architect
Renzo Piano that he has never developed
a recognisable style. But Piano’s style is to
grapple primarily with the sites and to tease
from them uniquely aesthetic and technical
solutions. His buildings are meticulous,
individual visions that serve the needs
of the surrounding environments and the
people that inhabit them. This film gives
Piano a platform to talk about his architecture and to present works
that are as disparate as they are individual.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Franz Welser-Möst
With its majestic themes soaring upwards
like gothic pillars and its brilliant chorales and
fanfares glowing like stained – glass windows,
Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 8 is the most
monumental of his orchestral works, a cathedral
in sound that grows out of pianissimo murmurs.
Coming after the triumphs celebrated by the
composer’s Seventh Symphony and Te Deum,
the Eight was considered by Bruckner as the artistic climax of his career.
BONUS: Pre-concert talk with Dee Perry and Franz Welser-Möst
106068
101581 (DVD) /108069 (Blu-ray)
Maki ISHII: Kaguyahime
Nederlands Dans Theater • Circle Percussion • Choreography by Jirí Kylián
Kaguyahime is one of Japan’s oldest fairy-tales – the story of the moon princess who descends to Earth and is cared for
by the family of an old bamboo cutter. Her luminous beauty is meant to spread
peace and happiness, but instead the rivalry her heavenly presence provokes results in war.
Jiří Kylián one of Europe’s most highly-acclaimed choreographers, has created a highly-charged fusion of dance, music
and theatrical images. The music, composed by Maki Ishii, fuses Western and Eastern sound elements,with Western
percussion and Japanese drums, augmented by wind instruments closely associated with traditional Japanese court
music. The visual impact of the piece is heightened by Michael Simon’s stunning design and lighting.
Nederlands Dans Theater’s performances of Kaguyahime have received universal acclaim and it has been hailed as a
visual, dance and musical masterpiece of rare quality, a creation that will leave no one unmoved.
100163 (DVD) /108055 (Blu-ray)
Jul-AUG 2012
13
DVD / BLU-RAY
A Musical Journey: SPAIN
A Musical Visit to Madrid,
La Mancha and Córdoba
DVD / BLU-RAY
HANDEL
Rinaldo
CAVALLI
LA DIDONE
Sonia Prina • Varduhi Abrahamyan • Tim
Mead • Anett Fritsch • Brenda Rae • Luca
Pisaroni
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
Ottavio Dantone • Robert Carsen
Skin-tight rubber and lacrosse sticks bring
contemporary chic to this timeless fantasy
of warriors and witches in Robert Carsen’s
fun-filled transformation of Handel’s first
London triumph. Conducting from the
keyboard just as Handel himself did, Ottavio
Dantone leads a youthful cast of today’s luminaries in the dramatic art
of Baroque opera, the ‘affecting’ Sonia Prina, the ‘unadorned intensity’
of Anett Fritsch and ‘fire-breathing flair’ (The Observer) of Brenda Rae.
Anna Bonitatibus • Kresimir Spicer
Xavier Sabata • Maria Streijffert
Katherine Watson
Les Arts Florissants • William Christie
Clément Hervieu-Léger
One of the first operas deserving of the
name, Didone is our first surviving musical
version of the famous episode in Virgil’s
Aeneid where the Trojan hero loves and
then cruelly leaves the noble Dido. Cavalli
learnt at the feet of Monteverdi, and his
dramatic transformation of the story is all the more expressive for its
intimacy, worthy of the examples set by his master. At the centre of
this bold and simple staging – the first opera production by comic
actor Clément Hervieu-Léger – is the Queen of Carthage herself,
sung with uncompromising intensity by Anna Bonitatibus. William
Christie and his singers and players show themselves entirely attuned
to the world of Cavalli, where meaning and music fuse.
OA1081D (DVD) / OABD7107D (Blu-ray)
OA1080D (DVD) / OABD7106D (Blu-ray)
András Schiff plays BACH
Nobuyuki Tsujii
Live at Carnegie Hall
Directed by Bruno Monsaingeon
András Schiff (piano)
Nobuyuki Tsujii (piano)
These performances exemplify perfectly the
thoughtful and persuasive approach that
András Schiff adopts when playing Bach.
Deep pathos is contrasted with witty
humour, serenity is paired with fleetness of
foot, and all these emotions prove that this
brilliantly expressive musician is as ‘unique
and unequalled’ today as he was when
his first biographer, J.N. Forkel, wrote so
eloquently about him more than two centuries ago
2066768
2059088 (DVD) / 2059084 (Blu-ray)
Lars Vogt
live at Verbier Festival
Martin Helmchen
live at Verbier Festival
The German pianist Vogt proves himself
more than up to the task, with an inspiring
performance of the rarely performed In
the Mists, then striking the subtle balance
between the delicacy required of a Brahms
Intermezzo and the boisterousness of
Beethoven’s last piano sonata.
Martin Helmchen, in his 2011 Verbier
Festival recital, presents a program of
Bach, Liszt and Beethoven.
Lars Vogt (piano)
Martin Helmchen (piano)
3079818
Richter
L’Insoumis / The Enigma
A film by Bruno Monsaingeon
We get to know as both musician and
pianist, particularly through his reading of
extracts from his “musician’s diary”.
A particularly painful family history; an
unconventional apprenticeship in Odessa;
a very particular vantage-point of Stalin´s
funeral; forbidden to perform in the West
until 1961, the bitterness of a triumphant
American tour; a scathing view of the
musical milieu and its performing artists.
In the two years preceding his death on August 1st 1997, the Great
Russian pianist Sviatoslav Richter agreed to a no-holds-barred
conversation about his life and career, which was conducted in the
service of music, regardless of all conventions.
3073518 (2 DVDs)
14
to its feet.
His dream had come true. Arguably the
most important event in the career of any
performer, for “Nobu” it was a miracle.
With his brilliant technique and beautiful
tone, he contrasts familiar warhorses with
newer pieces, including one of his own
compositions, written in memory of the
victims of the Japanese earthquake and
tsunami in March 2011. Nobu brought the
usually reserved Carnegie Hall audience
The adaptability of his technique is on
display, as he moves with ease from the
incessant rhythm of a Bach dance, through
the filigree of Liszt’s virtuosic showpieces,
to the dense counterpoint so typical of
Beethoven’s late works.
3079808
Die 12 Cellisten der Berliner
Philharmoniker
They are one-of-a-kind and they are
known all over the world: the 12 Cellisten
der Berliner Philharmoniker (the Twelve
Cellists of the Berlin Philharmonic).
Their concerts offer the audience the
chance to experience the ensemble’s
instrumental mastery, the broad spectrum
of its repertoire, as well as the stunning
tonal variety produced by its individual
musicians. On the occasion of their 40th
anniversary, the group presented highlights
of its program to an enthusiastic audience at the Berlin Philharmonic,
supported by world class guest artists, Annette Dasch (soprano) and
Till Brönner (trumpet). This Anniversary Edition offers the viewer the
chance to experience not only a superb concert but also an exciting
documentary chronicling the history of this fascinating group of
musicians.
2059318 (2 DVDs) / 2059314 (Blu-ray)
JUL-AUG 2012
Blegen • Fassbaender • Ahnsjö • Sotin • Wiener Philharmoniker
Sinfonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks
Bernstein delivered a powerful and now legendary live performance of Beethoven’s String Quartet Op. 135 – transcribed
for String Orchestra and performed by the Vienna Philharmonic. For the first time ever this performance is now being
released on DVD and Blu-ray.
Another definitive Bernstein performance debuting now on both mediums is the enigmatic maestro’s reading of Haydn’s
Missa in tempore belli, filmed live in concert at Ottobeuren in 1984, using to maximum effect the deeply impressive
setting of the monastery’s magnificent Baroque basilica.
711508 (DVD) / 711604 (Blu-ray)
Charles Gounod
Roméo et Juliette
Coro e Corpo di Ballo della Fondazione Arena di Verona (Orchestra)
Fabio Mastrangelo (conductor)
Nino Machaidze • Ketevan Kemoklidze • Cristina Melis • Stefano Secco • Jean-François Borras • Paolo Antognetti
Artur Rucinski • Nicolo Ceriani • Giampiero Ruggeri • Manrico Signorini • Giorgio Giuseppini • Deyan Vatchkov
Here from the iconic Verona arena is Charles Gounod’s masterpiece Roméo & Juliette, performed there for the first time
since 1977. This new production was entrusted to Italian director Francesco Micheli, making his arena debut, who opted
for a personal, highly original version: “An arena within the Arena, like a blood-red Elizabethan theatre. A senescent world
that will not let its own children live.”
Juliette is sung by Georgian soprano Nino Machaidze, in a return to one of her early roles at the Salzburg Festival.
Stefano Secco, often heard at the Opéra Bastille in Paris and other international venues, is Roméo. Artur Rucinski interprets Mercutio, Romeo’s
friend and the rival of Jean-François Borras’s Tybalt. The page Stéphano is sung by soprano Ketevan Kemoklidze. The Orchestra and Chorus of the
Arena di Verona are conducted by Fabio Mastrangelo.
BAC081 (DVD) / BAC481 (Blu-ray)
TrondheimSolistene
SOUVENIR - Part II
How do we listen to music? Indeed, how do we listen to anything? What we as listeners encounter here is sheer auditory
bliss. TrondheimSolistene take a new step towards bridging the gap between themselves and their audience.
It is not the gap between the live performance and the recording which they attempt to close. It is the gap between the
recording and the living, ever open human ear.
Inspired by Morten Lindberg’s extensive work with choral music, the Tchaikovsky’s SERENADE was recorded with the
ensemble placed in mixed voices, meaning no one is sitting beside anyone playing the same part, creating a totally new
soundscape to the music. Carl Nielsen’s SUITE opus 1 is recorded in a more “traditional” way in these sessions.
2L-090-PABD (Blu-ray) / 2L-090A-LP (CD Part 1) / 2L-090C-LP (CD Part 2)
Our Labels
Soli Deo Gloria
Jul-AUG 2012
SIMAX
classics
15
DVD / BLU-RAY
Leonard Bernstein
BEETHOVEN: String Quartet No. 16 (Version for String Orchestra)
HAYDN: Missa in tempore belli
֌පϬ ភ Ȇ ड ᚟ Н ᓴ
The All Star Percussion Ensemble
Autumn in Seattle
Esther
GSLP001R / GSLP001-LE ~ 欑ύⒾグ⓫⎱䏴⎠䏃
FIMLP004R / FIMLP004-LE ~ 欑ύⒾグ⓫⎱䏴⎠䏃
ATRLP01R / ATRLP01-LE ~ 欑ύⒾグ⓫⎱䏴⎠䏃
ӓ ௲ ߡ ‫ ے‬ག ፱ ‫ ڀ‬ԕ
The Hot Club of San Francisco
Yerba Buena Bounce
RACHMANINOFF:
Symphonic Dances; Vocalise
Dick Hyman
From The Age of Swing
Stravinsky: The Firebird Suite/
The Song of the Nightingale
RM-2503
45 rpm, 200-gram (2-LP)
RM-1504
33 1/3 rpm , 200-gram
RM-2501
45 rpm, 200-gram (2-LP)
RM-1502
33 1/3 rpm , 200-gram
ߡ ‫ ៳ ࠛ ے‬ӓ ጹ ག ፱
DXD (352.8kHz/24bit)
TrondheimSolistene
SOUVENIR
Part 1
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893)
SERENADE for Strings in C (op. 48)
Carl Nielsen (1865–1931)
SUITE for String Orchestra (op. 1)
Part 2
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893)
SOUVENIR de Florence (op. 70)
Carl Nielsen (1865–1931)
Ved en Ung Kunstners Baare (fs. 58)
2L090ALP
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