David Gompper is an award-winning composer and the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2020. His luminously orchestrated and expressive works have attracted admiration throughout the US, Europe and beyond. Opening with relentless energy, the second movement of the Cello Concerto is spectral and dreamlike, while the Double Bass Concerto explores the light effects of a solar eclipse, using the soloist to suggest shadows, auras and glimpses of sound. A partner work to Sunburst (8.559835), the multi-layered Moonburst reflects the transformational imagery of nocturnal sounds and perceptions. David Gompperhas lived and worked professionally as a pianist, a conductor, and a composer in New York, San Diego, London, Nigeria, Michigan, Texas and Iowa. In 2002-03 Gompper was in Russia as a Fulbright Scholar, teaching, performing and conducting at the Moscow Conservatory. In 2009 he received an Academy Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in New York City, and a Fromm Commission in 2013. Gompper's compositions have been performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and Merkin Halls (New York), Wigmore Hall (London), the Konzerthaus (Vienna) and the Bolshoi and Rachmaninov Halls (Moscow Conservatory).

On their premiere recording, the Old Royal Naval College Trinity Laban Chapel Choir, directed by celebrated choral conductor Ralph Allwood, perform the works of British Choral Award winner Roderick Williams. Based in Greenwich, East London the choir is comprised of both students from the conservatoire (including several choral scholars) as well as outstanding volunteer singers. It is unique amongst cathedral, church and collegiate choirs in the UK in that it has ready access to the wide range of musical resources at the Conservatoire, collaborating frequently in a wide variety of genres as well as performing for services at the beautiful 18th Century Chapel of St Peter & St Paul. As well as being renowned as a singer Roderick Williams is also well-respected as a composer, and his works have been premiered at the Wigmore and Barbican Halls, the Purcell Room and live on national radio.

Resonance Lines, a term borrowed loosely from physics, refers to the energy emitted or absorbed by an atom as it transitions between different energy states. This is a unique and innate quality for each type of atom that can only be measured and observed under the right enabling circumstances. An ideal artistic collaboration feels like the discovery and realization of deeply held potential for shared creativity—a sympathetic resonance or surge of energy in the colloquial sense—that is revealed when the right conditions are in place. It may feel lucky or it may feel destined, and in special cases, the “resonating” artists are able to nurture and develop their complementary qualities with lasting effect. This album is a collection of music grown of such pairings, collaborations between composers and cellists joined by shared experiences that lead to creative sparks, unique musical gestures, and new sound worlds.

REVIEW:

Despite featuring works created centuries apart, Resonance Lines is distinguished by a remarkable degree of uniformity. That’s attributable to three things in particular: first, Hannah Collins’ cello is the sole instrument involved; second, the cellist brings a deep level of conviction to all six pieces; and third, each of them makes distinct references to music from the past, a move that helps collapse temporal boundaries between the pieces and reveals how the composers built on their personal musical histories with the creation of something new. Collins also has personal connections to the material, which amplifies their resonance all the more.

Every performance on the sixty-five-minute release is so engrossing, one quickly loses sight of the fact that the recording is the product of a single person and instrument. No supplemental effects are used, and neither are they needed when Collins is involved. Solo recordings expose the performer most nakedly, but she in no way suffers as a result. One comes away from the release with a heightened appreciation for her as both cellist and collaborator.

-- Textura

Classical Music

This 6th volume gives attention to the less frequently performed musical works of the "Ballet russes". Over 70 minutes. (SWR Music)

Chandos presents Volume 2 in its series of solo piano works by Chopin, played by the French-Canadian pianist Louis Lortie. Recording exclusively for Chandos, Lortie is recognized as one of the finest interpreters of Chopin today. He first recorded Chopin's Etudes for Chandos more than twenty years ago; the disc was named as one of the '50 great performances by superlative pianists' by BBC Music.

Volume 1 of his current Chopin series also has received excellent reviews: the magazine Pianist wrote, “He is a pianist of our time when it comes to speed, energy and an unfussy approach to Chopin. His way of playing is like a sharply cut steel sculpture, super elegant and with not one single smudge.” And in the words of International Piano: “These are full-blooded and eloquent performances, an auspicious start to what looks likely to become one of the finest of Chopin surveys.”

The great bass-baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau has been involved with the music of Bach throughout his career. Even as a student, he studied the cantatas and in his first Post-War concert in 1947, he was a soloist in the "St. Matthew Passion." As the singer's career progressed, performances of the music of Bach and his contemporaries became increasingly rare. However, in the 1950s, while at the beginning of his career, Fischer-Dieskau produced a series of radio recordings featuring not only the music of Bach but other Baroque composers such as Schutz, Tunder and St. Elzel.

This Blu-ray Disc is only playable on Blu-ray Disc players and not compatible with standard DVD players.

Also available on standard DVD

Christian Thielemann and the Staatskapelle Dresden are continuing their internationally acclaimed Bruckner cycle with the Symphony No. 5. For Anton Bruckner, his Fifth Symphony was a glorious confrontation with the music of the past – from a personal, biographical angle, but also as a departure from the composition techniques he preferred up to this point. Not for nothing is this tremendous opus magnum regarded as Bruckner’s “contrapuntal masterpiece”. In this universally lauded performance, Christian Thielemann, already the leading Bruckner interpreter of our times, has once again proven himself to be a “magician of the Bruckner sound”. (Kurier)

Anton Bruckner
SYMPHONY NO. 5
(Blu-ray Disc Version)

Dresden Staatskapelle
Christian Thielemann, conductor

Recorded live at the Semperoper, Saxon State Opera, Dresden, 2013

Picture format: 1080i High Definition
Sound format: PCM Stereo / DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: English, German, French
Running time: 89 mins
No. of Discs: 1 (BD 25)

Stefanie Schumacher was born near Freiburg and is a member of the Ensemble Zeitsprung. She performs regularly as a guest with other contemporary ensembles such as the Ensemble Oktopus. With works that she has herself commissioned, her goal is to allow the direct emotional expression particularly associated with the accordion in folk music to influence the contemporary creation of new music for her instrument.

C.P.E. Bach’s two collections of religious songs were among the most popular 18th Lieder publications. The songs selected for this CD have never been recorded before with their complete texts. The other work recorded here is the ‘Hamlet Fantasy’ which resulted when the poet Gerstenberg imposed his free translation of Hamlet’s soliloquy on one of C. P. E. Bach’s keyboard works. This CD is released to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the composer’s birth.

REVIEW:

These devotional songs by CPE Bach are culled from two major sources: Geistliche Oden und Lieder mit Melodien (1758) on poetry by CF Gellert; and Sturms Geistliche Gesänge mit Melodien on texts by Christian Carl Sturm (1780–1). More than half of the songs on the program are recorded here for the first time: ‘Bitten’, ‘Prüffung am Abend’, ‘Abendlied’, ‘Busslied’, ‘Uber die Finsternis Kurz vor dem Tode Jesu’, ‘Passionslied’, ‘Der Tag des Weltgerichts’, ‘Empfindungen in der Sommernacht’, and ‘Der Frühling’.

Meyn and Charlston perform the full text of each lyric (‘Prüffung am Abend’ has 10 stanzas) and in intimate surroundings that replicate the original domestic setting for the performance of these songs. It is the perfect setting for the clavichord (built by Peter Bavington), which is the instrument Bach had in mind. Meyn’s tenor voice is light, just right for this repertory and setting. Texts and notes are in English.

-- American Record Guide

I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Bellini’s exquisitely lyrical treatment of Romeo and Juliet, has garnered renewed popularity in recent decades. The 1998 Munich recording reissued here is one of the catalogue’s most acclaimed, particularly for the vibrant, expressive Romeo of mezzo Vesselina Kasarova and the conducting of Roberto Abbado, who, wrote Gramophone, “has Bellini’s lyricism within him (hear the finale to Act 1, for instance). He elicits fine playing from the Munich orchestra.”

This stunning new live recording of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion (Matthauspassion BWV 244) was recorded in Pisa Cathedral during the Anima Mundi Festival as part of the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra’s 2016 tour. Conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner, the brilliant cast includes James Gilchrist as the Evangelist and Stephan Loges as Jesus. The Trinity Boys Choir adds an exciting color to this recording as well. The Monteverdi Choir was founded by Sir John Eliot Gardner in 1964. The ensemble’s first performance was the Monteverdi Vespers in King’s College Chapel, Cambridge. The group has become known worldwide for their stylistic conviction and their ability to perform an extensive repertoire, from Renaissance motets to Classical music of the Twentieth Century.

-----

REVIEW:

Musically this is a very fine performance. The choir are excellent, of course, with a solid but clear and intimate sound even in the larger choruses, no end of expressive means in the chorales, and a thrilling quickness in the crowd choruses. Gardiner asks for a lot of quiet singing from them and they execute it with a superbly controlled beauty.

The orchestra is as skilled and musical as you like in their obbligatos, and exquisitely responsive in Gardiner's subtle shapings.

The experienced Evangelist of James Gilchrist and Christus of Stephan Loges are not to be faulted, and none of the nine young aria soloists is a weak link; each one lives up to their moment in the drama.

All of these things you will find in many other Matthews, but you will rarely find the same careful relishing of the German text. What really makes this one special, however, is its emotional integrity, coming not from affected theatricality but from a pervading sense of profound sadness. This recording is one of Gardiner's finest achievements.

– Gramophone

In an interview about great conductors with the newspaper Die Welt in 2015, Sir Simon Rattle said of Mariss Jansons, “He’s the best of all of us!” This new release from BR-Klassik focuses on the career of Mariss Jansons, and contains a total of five albums offering a representative cross-section of the classical symphonic repertoire- as well as a cross-section of the repertoire for which the chief conductor of the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks has been highly praised again and again for his outstanding interpretative qualities. Landmarks of great choral music can be found here, as well as milestones in symphonic development and select orchestral songs. The works range from music of the First Viennese School to early 20th-century late romanticism; from Haydn’s “Harmoniemesse” to the Minuet from Haydn’s Symphony Hob. I:88; from Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony, Brahms’ Fouth Symphony and Mahler’s Ninth Symphony to Strauss’ Eine Alpensinfonie.

REVIEW

Jansons’ thoughtful interpretations are consistently clear and often profoundly insightful, and the playing of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra is impressive, whether in purely orchestral performances or with the Bavarian Radio Chorus in the Haydn and the Stravinsky. Considering Jansons’ high productivity, this set can only give a small sample of his many recordings, but fans who have yet to delve into his full repertoire will appreciate this package.

– AllMusic Guide.com

There is a long and honorable history of the sonnet being set to music, starting with composers in the Italian Renaissance and continuing through to the present day. For a composer to set a sonnet, or series of sonnets, almost inevitably and unnervingly, means writing within a historical perspective- as it does with writing operas, string quartets or symphonies. The form itself, though, is particularly satisfying to work with because of its sense of balance and its elegant and apparently simple formal structure. In writing sonnets the poet generally speaks in first person, which draws the reader deep into their world. For a composer this has the huge advantage of giving a very direct emotional link to the poet. In 2007, Gavin Bryars was commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company and Opera North to set a group of Shakespeare’s sonnets to music, having by then produced four books of madrigals. Shakespeare’s sonnets are full of wonderful technical subtlety and the form of the sonners allowed him to arrive at a shape for the musical setting. Gavin Bryars’ first musical reputation was as a jazz bassist working in the early sixties with improvisers Derek Bailey and Tony Oxley. He worked for a time in the United States with John Cage, and collaborated with composers Cornelius Cardew and John White. The Gavin Bryars Ensemble was founded in 1981 and performs internationally to this day.

Navona Live is proud to announce the release of INDIANA COLLECTANEA, which celebrates and preserves composer Michael G. Cunningham’s residency at Indiana University School of Music from 1969-1973. This live recording of Cunningham’s work comes on the heels of his acclaimed album ECUMENICAL SPIRIT from Navona Live earlier this year. This latest release captures a significant moment in time, when Cunningham’s work helped channel the talents of 30 burgeoning musicians. In INDIANA COLLECTANEA, Cunningham expands his palette beyond traditional tonality, painting with chromatic, timbral, and rhythmic nuances. The work opens with Prisms, a four-movement piece in which dense tone clusters shift and refract among the strings like a kaleidoscope. This is followed by Polyphonies, a wild-eyed percussion piece that manipulates instrumental timbres to an exhilarating effect. As the album progresses, each piece is a surprise to the listener’s ears, with its unique assortments of instruments and sounds jolting the audience into new appreciation. The frenetic horns at the start of Concertant are further evidence of this. The penultimate track, Scenario, is particularly inventive, opening with a prelude of ethereal bells. Each musician is assigned to multiple instruments, showcasing both their own skills and that of their composer. Lastly, the album ends with the dramatic Noetical Rounds, which concludes with a soft, descending glissando into oblivion. Despite the decades that have passed since the performances on INDIANA COLLECTANEA, each piece is as startlingly fresh as it was the day of its performance. Listen to hear this collection of talented musicians pushed to their utmost by the challenging and thoughtful compositions of Michael G. Cunningham.

Alessandro Scarlatti’s cantata Bella madre de’ fiori, opens with a slow-tempo Sinfonia followed by a series of arias and recitatives, the last of which is perhaps the most intensely poetic and stylistically original section of the whole cantata. Giovanni Bononcini’s Il lamento di Olimpia opens with a two-movement delicately pastoral prelude; the most important dramatic moments of the text are in the two recitatives rather than in the cantata’s da capo arias. For the cantata Care luci del mio bene, Bononcini has given us a composition of exquisite elegance in superb cantabile style.

You’re right, the world probably doesn’t need yet another Four Seasons, but if it did, this new production from the newly launched house label from the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra would definitely justify its existence by the effervescent, crisp, technically assured playing of violinist Elizabeth Blumenstock and the equally vibrant, articulate orchestral ensemble. Back in the late 1980s I received a recording from an orchestra’s newly launched label—interestingly the orchestra was another "Philharmonia", the Philharmonia Virtuosi—and the repertoire was, you guessed it, Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. I had the same reaction then: do we need another version of this over-recorded warhorse? But it turned out to be one of the more exciting things I’d heard in months, and the recording propelled the orchestra and its new label to happy success for the next decade or so.

Blumenstock and the Philharmonia Baroque inject these familiar pieces with exceptional dynamism and dramatic force, but without resorting to anything vulgar or cheap. This is honest music-making, allowing us to hear these works as just great, virtuosic violin concertos—and if you doubt their ability to still excite, just listen to the opening Allegro of “L’estate” RV 315, or to the Presto of the same work. Hopefully the fortunes of that earlier Philharmonia Virtuosi release will translate to the same result for this first-rate orchestra, conductor, and soloist. Bravo!

– David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com

Classical Music

At last it is possible to present to the public the first monographic recording of works by Giuseppe Unia, who in the eighteen-sixties could boast the title of “court pianist-composer to His Majesty the King of Italy”, like his better-known colleague Hans von Bülow, court pianist to Ludwig ii of Bavaria and his friend Alfred Jaëll, pianist to the King of Hannover. Giuseppe Antonio Unia is one of the many Italian musicians whom history – or, should we say, time – has separated from us with the thin veil of oblivion. Yet his more than two hundred publications for publishers such as Ricordi, Canti and Vismara testify to a considerable degree of success, and the dedications of his works show that his friends were important people, both from a social point of view and from an artistic one. The pianists Massimiliano Génot and Andrea Vigna Taglianti here are proposing a careful selection of the piano works by Unia, fully reflecting the style and musical taste of Europe of his time, of which he was a profound connoisseur thanks to his numerous artistic experiences in Italy, Paris and Vienna.

Matthew Taylor's sense of musical architecture – extending the symphonic tradition of Sibelius and Nielsen into the modern age – can be felt in his chamber music no less than in his orchestral output. Though his String Quartets Nos. 5, 6 and 7 were written in close succession, they are fundamentally different in design and feeling.