GERSHWIN (THE BEST OF)

Classical Music

Composed between 1897 and 1905, this collection of Respighi’s earliest music for violin and piano, some from his student days, is notable for its openness to influences as diverse as German Romanticism, Russian Nationalism and the French school, as if he were trying out different styles in the search for his own personal idiom. No less evident are Respighi’s technical mastery of instrumentation and form as well as his delight in vocally inflected melodic lines. This is the first of two volumes of Respighi’s complete works for violin and piano. Emy Bernecoli and Massimo Giuseppe Bianchi have been acclaimed for their “impassioned, technically polished and rhythmically rock-solid interpretations”. (Gramophone on 8.572828 / Ghedini)

The ‘Best Loved’ series of albums covers a wide range of popular instruments, each bringing together a substantial selection of works from the vast Naxos catalogue. Each compilation includes an extensive booklet which provides a full introduction to the instrument, an explanation of how its sound is produced, and descriptions of the pieces. Each album will serve as an introduction to a specific instrument, with musical examples from the Baroque to the present, and with a mixture of solo, chamber and orchestral works. The series is aimed at listeners who do not have extensive knowledge of classical music, but who are interested to find out more about the instrument featured and about popular repertoire written for it. The focus in these releases is a light and relaxed approach, rather than academic and theoretical: a joyful exploration and celebration of individual instrumental sounds. This series will be accompanied by supplementary online playlists that will have additional best loved tracks for each instrument beyond what can be included on a physical album. This album features works by Vivaldi, Beethoven, Bach, Weiss, Albéniz and Febonio.

A. RUBINSTEIN Sérénade russe. 2 Melodies, op. 2. Souvenir de Dresde, op. 118. Romance and Impromptu, op. 26. Akrostikon No. 1, op. 37 • Joseph Banowetz (pn) • NAXOS 8.570942 (75:21)


Recently, I reviewed Joseph Banowetz’s first volume of music by Anton Rubinstein, declaring myself ripe for more at the end of it. Well, here is Volume 2, a mix of the new (five of the six movements of Souvenir de Dresde are world premiere recordings—No. 6 was recorded by Leo Sirota and is available on the Arbiter label—as are the Romance and Impromptu , the Sérénade russe, and the Akrostichon No. 1). Volume 1 contained music from 1871–90; this presents works written 1852–94. I also mentioned in my earlier review that only the Melody in F has gained the favor of the catalog, and here in fact it is, played with unaffected simplicity by Banowetz and bringing in tow its lesser-known companion, a Melody in B, a work of supreme delicacy. Rubinstein uses single-line melody to great effect, and Banowetz plays with supreme dignity and maturity.


The disc begins with a work minus opus number. The Sérénade russe was written around 1852, and was composed for a publication named L’Album Bellini . The melancholy feel of the work seems entirely Russian. Banowetz ensures that the lightenings of texture and mood register to maximum effect, and that the Lisztian arabesques contain hints of improvisation.


The sublime sweetness of the first movement of Souvenir de Dresde (1894) draws one into the work. This movement’s title is, in fact, “Simplicitus.” The music opens out into sequences of roulades (dispatched with remarkable ease by Banowetz). In contrast, the second movement, marked “Appassionata,” uses Brahmsian sonorities to bring a contrastive disquiet. Annotator Joshua Creek suggests that the opening of the third movement, “Novelette,” is pastiche Rameau, and it is easy to hear what he means. The movement is a delight. A light, almost Mendelssohnian Caprice leads to an extended Nocturne where the shadow of Chopin can be clearly felt. Drama is the characteristic of the final Polonaise. Banowitz does not quite project the full sweep of the piece, perhaps.


Dripping, slow descending lines that one might expect to encounter in late Brahms begin the Romance from op. 26. Rubinstein’s offering turns out to be a simple but expressive song without words, its melody exquisitely shaped by Banowetz. The Impromptu makes for effective contrast in its playful, busy nature. Finally, Akrostikon No. 1 (written around 1856). Each movement is headed by a letter, which when put together spell “LAURA” (Laura Shveykovskaya, a young lady evidently admired by the composer). All five movements are remarkably stress-free, liquid outpourings. Any hints of disquiet in the fifth movement (Con moto) are dismissed in the quasi-improvised final movement, a clear Lied ohne Worte.


Once again, Banowetz has succeeded in alerting the record buying public of the importance of Anton Rubsinstein’s music while simultaneously providing playing of the utmost clarity and beauty.


FANFARE: Colin Clarke

Alexander Korsantia is a force of nature. These live performances of this Russian Rubenstein competition winner show a red hot immediacy, excitement, and adrenalin usually absent in studio recordings. The terror of Prokofiev's War Sonatas, the orchestral colors of Stravinsky's Firebird and the tongue-in-cheek of the Circus Polka and Tango: all these brilliant performances evoke the visceral emotions of a unique concert experience.

Classical Music

Jacques Cast�r�de composed in almost every genre, from stage and symphonic works to competition pieces, with music that remained rooted in expressive melody. This third and final volume of his flute music presents witty neo-Classicism in the 5 Bagatelles, and the composer's delight in popular music with the post-Debussian 12 �tudes, works that are both communicative and vibrant. In the Divertimento we meet the composer at his most compulsively subversive, as an expert melodist, harmonist and contrapuntalist, in music as zany as it is disarming. South African native Cobus du Toit has performed in Russia, Taiwan, Japan, Germany, France, Australia and, as a concerto soloist, has performed with orchestras around the globe. Pianist Doreen Lee has appeared on all three volumes. She has performed with notable artists such as the Tak�cs Quartet, violist Geraldine Walther, Colorado Symphony principal horn Michael Thornton, flautists Christina Jennings and Katherine Kemler, and cellist Johannes Moser, among others. She is also the pianist of the du Toit/Lee Duo, formed in collaboration with flautist Cobus du Toit.

Mozart wrote his horn concertos, three of them complete and one lacking it's slow movement, for the former Salzburg horn-player Ignaz Leutgeb, who had returned to his native Vienna in 1777.

Popular Chinese Piano Pieces: Scenes from China & Music of W

The Grand Piano label is dedicated to exploring undiscovered piano repertoire by unfamiliar composers, producing high quality, often world premiere recordings, performed by virtuoso authorities in their chosen field. Marking the label's 5th anniversary, this collection is a comprehensive guide through the history of keyboard music from the invention of the fortepiano to today's living composer's, as well as taking the listener on a musical adventure thorugh a geographically global range of rare musical gems, with all of their new and exciting sounds and fresh perspectives.

Classical Music

Muzio Clementi’s legacy to pianists lies not only in his teaching studies and in his exploration of new levels of virtuosity, but in compositions that were widely admired by contemporaries such as Beethoven. This album explores a variety of pieces, a number of which focus on variations. ‘The Black Joke’ was a popular English tune garnished by Clementi with 21 successive variations. Musical Characteristics captures the styles of leading figures of the time, including Mozart, Haydn and Koželuch, while the Variations on ‘Batti, batti’ is a virtuoso transcription. Nicholas Rimmer plays on an original fortepiano made in Clementi’s own workshop around 1806. A pianist with a keen interest in chamber music, Lied, as well as in historical keyboard instruments, Nicholas Rimmer has appeared in many major concert venues in Germany and the UK, among others. His collaborative partnerships have resulted in acclaimed recordings of Brahms and Wolfgang Rihm; the latter (8.572730) received a Diapason d’Or, a Pizzicato Supersonic Award and an International Record Review ‘Outstanding’ Award.

This CD documents a ten-year productive friendship between a composer and a performer. Many of Matthews’ quartets were written for the Kreutzer Quartet, and they’ve recorded two previous CDs of his complete cycle of music. This release features all world premiere recordings.

REVIEW:

Finally, there comes Hopeful Monsters of 2011 for string orchestra (the orchestra includes the members of the Quartet). Commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street (a day in 1936 when, in East London, crowds gathered to protest against fascism), it is a fascinating canvas that includes references to Jewish music in its faster section. The title is borrowed from Nicholas Mosley and refers to biological mutations that hover on extinction. Lee Hallman’s exemplary booklet notes suggest this is reflected in Rose’s use of harmony, with its clear tonal references that it just as often seeks to negate—or at least toy with.

All pieces here receive their first recordings, and the disc was made in the presence of the composer. Unhesitatingly recommended.

-- Fanfare

Robert Schumann considered Peter Joseph von Lindpaintner the most promising operatic composer in the country, yet despite his 21 operas he has been almost forgotten. Like most leading German composers of his time he took Meyerbeer's historical grand operas, conceived in Paris, as his model. Set in Sicily at the dawn of the 1848 revolution, 'Il vespro siciliano' ('Die sizilianische Vesper'/ 'The Sicilian Vespers') is a dramatic four-act opera that reveals why he was held in such esteem by Schumann, Spohr and Mendelssohn: expressive harmonies, folksong-like strophic songs, rich orchestration, the use of the latest stylistic devices, and tuneful bel canto melodies that point to the work's Franco-Italian lineage. This world premiere recording is directed by Federico Longo.

The present release synthesizes some stages characterizing the composition path of Pier Paolo Scattolin: from a cappella vocality to instrumentalism with stylistic dynamics sometimes distant but all having in common the research on sound, from the linguistic phoneme to the eclectic and sometimes experimental use of instrumental emission. The path winds through almost forty years of continuous investigation and dissection of both choral and instrumental sound, the latter of a chamber/soloistic character and in some cases concerted and intersected with the voice. In the a cappella choral repertoire a varied anthology collects poetic and literary texts by Dante Alighieri, Giuseppe Ungaretti, Alda Merini, Umberto Saba, Emily Dickinson, Alessandro Striggio, Agnolo Poliziano, Alceo, Saffo, Ipponatte, Enzo Iacchetti, Agnese Troilo and the composer himself. Some choral pieces are concerted with the Ensemble of ancient instruments Circe from Bologna, whose presence stems from the search for a sound language proceeding towards the stripping and essentiality of a music and a sound coherent with the setting of the poetic texts in order to transfer their instrumental characteristics to contemporary musical expression. In some pieces the solo voices are added as an almost instrumental colour, a timbre enrichment of the sonorities of the organ, the recorders, and the trumpets.

The Lithuanian Vladas Jakubenas (1904–78) is one of a lost generation of Baltic composers. A student of Schreker in Berlin, he returned home to help build the musical culture of his country. But the Nazi invasion and Soviet occupation drove him into exile and, after five years in refugee camps in Germany, he settled in Chicago, playing an important role in the Lithuanian diaspora in North America. These choral songs show the deep identification of his late-Romantic style with the folk-music of the land he was forced to leave behind.

Classical Music

Can you hear the music? Do you hear it play? It’s telling you the story of the first Christmas Day… Perfect for children of all ages, this album of classical and traditional works is a charming and engaging retelling of the nativity through music, song, and rhyme. Well-known composers like Mozart, Rutter, Lutoslawski and Brahms are included here, alongside traditional Christmas carols like “While Shepherds Watched their Flocks,” and “Mary Had a Baby.” Each of these songs has been taken from an album in the Naxos catalogue, and the works are performed by world-renowned vocalists and instrumentalists. Listen to this music, read the story, and enjoy.

FRANCE: A Musical Tour of the South of France

The Places
The tour opens with views of the Camargue, the marshy region near Arles with its wild life. Views of the Côte d’Azur are intercut with glimpses of the Munich Glyptothek with its collections of Roman and Greek statuary. Near Arles is the ancient Abbey of Montmajour and the fortified monastery and Abbey on Saint-Honorat, one of the Iles de Lérins. In Arles we see the Roman theatre and necropolis and, at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, the remains of the ancient Gallo-Greek town of Glanum.

The Music
Music for the tour includes Debussy’s evocative Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune, two Gymnopédies by Erik Satie and Ravel’s two suites from his ballet Daphnis et Chloé, followed by his Introduction and Allegro for Harp, Flute, Clarinet and String Quartet.

Picture format: NTSC 4:3
Sound format: PCM Stereo / Dolby Digital 5.1 / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Running time: 57 mins
No. of DVDs: 1