Inspired by the personality, prodigious technique and musicality of the cellist Gregor Piatigorsky, Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Cello Concerto is a work of imposing scale and demanding virtuosity, but also with a rare beauty and warmth of expression. This live recording documents the first professional performances of the concerto in more than 80 years, and is paired with playful and virtuosic freely composed transcriptions for cello and piano of Mozart, Rossini and Ravel that Castelnuovo-Tedesco made for Piatigorsky and Heifetz. Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s career was interrupted by his move to America in 1939 to escape the Fascist regime in Italy. He worked as a film composer in Hollywood, and as a result his concert works have become neglected, and he is now best remembered as a composer for the guitar. There is something of an ongoing revival however, of which this program is a part. Acclaimed cellist Brinton Averil Smith appeared on the Naxos ‘American Classics’ album of music by Steven Gerber, in which Smith’s performance was widely lauded by critics. His virtuosity and musical ideas rooted in the golden age of string playing make him a favorite of audiences all over the world.

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REVIEW:

There’s a cinematic feel and scope to the Cello Concerto, primarily during the first movement, with plenty of expressive lines and passages that Brinton Averil Smith projects with aplomb.

The other pieces and arrangements on this CD are a pleasure to hear, most particularly Brinton Averil Smith’s own arrangement of Figaro, from the Barber of Seville, with Evelyn Chen on the piano. Their playing well projects the comical elements of this famous opera aria.

– Classical Music Sentinel

With this unique programme Hanzhi Wang takes us into the ‘fairy-tale world of the accordion’ in works by Danish composers that explore both the darkness and luminosity of Hans Christian Andersen’s famous stories. Poignant reflection and tragic depiction infuse Martin Lohse’s ‘Menuetto’ and ‘The Little Match Girl’ (dedicated to Hanzhi Wang), while his post-minimalist ‘Passing’ series forms adventurous mobiles of dancing light. From Jesper Koch’s quixotic ‘Jabberwocky’ to Svend Aaquist’s evocative ‘Saga Night,’ this new repertoire for a relatively recent concert instrument is both dramatic and uplifting. Up and coming artist Hanzhi Wang is the accordion’s perfect ambassador. Praised for her engaging stage presence and performances that are technically and musically brilliant, her career has already taken her around the globe with performances in Europe and Asia.

British composer Michael Head (1900–1976) initially studied piano with Jean Adair, a student of famous Clara Schumann, and vocal performance with Fritz Marston. It was only in 1919 that he began studying composition in the class of Prof. Frederick Corder after he had been admitted to the Royal Academy of Music in London as a Sir Michael Costa scholarship holder. After completing his education, Head lectured at that university for many years. Peter Hope, born in 1930, is another representative of the British school of composers on the present album, also known under the pseudonym William Gardner. He gained fame as an outstanding arranger (he worked with the BBC Concert Orchestra on a number of occasions and orchestrated pieces by composers linked to the American film industry, e.g. John Williams, James Horner, or Laurence Rosenthal). Despite the fact that he has dealt mainly with arrangements and transcriptions throughout his career, his compositional output can be considered impressive. André Previn (1929–2019), an American artist, is mainly associated as a world-famous conductor, pianist, and promoter of outstanding violinist Anne--Sophie Mutter. In this context, his compositional out-put seems to be unjustly forgotten. An international composer, Daniel Baldwin’s music has been performed around the globe in Canada, Italy, Germany, Japan, China, Belgium, and Australia, just to name a few. His music is published exclusively by Imagine Music Publishing, through which he is the editor of a band/orchestra/choir series titled "The Pathways Series".

Liszt's first meeting with Wagner in 1840 took place when the latter was struggling as a composer, and his transcriptions can be seen as part of a campaign to bring Wagner's work to the notice of a wider audience. These include many of Wagner's most famous dramatic moments, such as Isolde's Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde and the Wedding March from Lohengrin. The program concludes with the Solemn March to the Holy Grail from Wagner's last stage work Parsifal, Liszt's transcription of which was published in 1883, the year of Wagner's death.

Palestrina's Fourth Book of Motets was dedicated to his patron Pope Gregory XIII and published in Rome in 1584. He took as his text The Song of Songs (also known as The Song of Solomon). The 29 motets, written in an age of religious tumult and Counter-Reformation, evoke the love of Christ in devotional music of chamber-like refinement and joy. This recording also includes plainchant antiphons related to the texts, and the motets Afferentur Regi and Quam pulchri sunt gressus tui.

The works in this collection attest to the high standard of music-making in Naples. The composers here recorded were at the forefront of the achievements of Neapolitan music in the first half of the 18th century, the golden age of music production in the southern Italian centre. And the Neapolitan style at this time was fashionable beyond the borders of Italy, as well. Among all the composers presented, only Mancini lived and worked almost all his life in Naples. The others spent their lives travelling or serving foreign courts. This programme exploits the felicitous pairing of the voice with flute, two instruments similarly tied to the expressivity of human breath. Throughout this programme a baroque transverse flute, or ‘traverso’, is used, either called for specifically or substituted for the recorder. When these pieces were written the two types of flute still existed alongside each other as equals, as they had done for centuries before the transverse variety began to dominate later in the 18th century. Use of the viola da gamba for the bass part also finds justification in Naples. While in Rome the instrument had almost completely disappeared by the first half of the 17th century, it endured in Naples and continued to be used. Several mid-18th-century viole da gamba, preserved to this day, in various sizes by luthiers from the Neapolitan Gaglian family attest to the much later persistence of this instrument in that area.

THREE CELLO SUITES from clarinetist Joshua Ranz and Navona Records is a truly groundbreaking take on Bach's legendary works; In this album, for the first time ever, listeners may enjoy three unabridged cello suites by Bach arranged for the bass clarinet. Ranz selected Suites 1, 2, and 4 for this recording because, together, they form a cohesive and dynamic whole. Ranz holds the chair of principal clarinet for the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and has played on such blockbuster soundtracks as Toy Story 3 and 4, and Star Wars episodes VII and IX. He can be heard prominently featured in La La Land, Catch Me If You Can, and An American Pickle. Ranz lends a fresh voice to Bach's profoundly-beautiful music in THREE CELLO SUITES.

This 2-disc recording of Verdi’s Requiem is a live version from Berlin in 1960. Ferenc Fricsay, who is noted for his outstanding Verdi interpretations, conducts the RIAS Symphony Orchestra in this recording. In addition to the Requiem, this album also contains Verdi’s 4 Pezzi sacri and Sinfonie e Preludi which features preludes from Nabucco, La Traviata, La forza del destino, and Aida. The 4 Pezzi sacri and the Sinfonie e Preludi presented here are recordings from 1952 and 1953, respectively.

Guido Alberto Fano (1875-1961) lived and worked in Germany and Austria, where he developed as a composer and as a pianist. After his time there, he held important posts at the conservatories of Milan and Naples, and had the respect and admiration of several popular composers, namely Richard Strauss. The Piano Sonata in E is a highly technical work, composed in the late romantic style. It remains one of the most influential Italian piano sonatas. Pietro de Maria performs these works, and is one of Italy’s most notable pianists. He has also recorded the complete piano works of Chopin.

Music from the original soundtrack 'Swan Lake,' presenting scores by Tchaikovsky. Performed by Oliver Award winning production nominee Matthew Bourne and The New London Orchestra under the direction of David Lloyd-Jones. An original BBC release is now available on the Teldec label.

Telemann was among the most admired and prolific of composers and his compositions encompass virtually all genres and instrumentations known in his lifetime. The ‘Six Ouvertures,’ strangely neglected for many years, reveal his inventive and imaginative writing for solo harpsichord. They contain elements that suggest an amalgam of French and Italianate influences, whether ‘ouverture-suite’ or three-movement concerto or sonata. Also evident, in the central movements, is Telemann’s preference for Polish folk music, of whose ‘true barbaric beauty’ he was an ardent admirer. Gaku Nakagawa was born in 1993 in Japan. He began playing piano at the age of four, and in 2012 entered the University of Tokyo to study philosophy. Without ever having a harpsichord lesson, he became the first prize winner of the 27th YAMANASHI, Japan, international competition for early music in 2014. This is his debut recording.

Classical Music

The piano music of the Estonian composer Heino Eller (1887–1970), a total of 206 works, is not only the largest part of his output: it is also the largest body of works in Estonian classical music. But most of these pieces are unknown, even though the best of them are original contributions to the piano repertoire of the twentieth century, with Eller’s sensitive lyricism underpinned by gentle humor and an occasional epic tone. This seventh volume brings music from half a century of music, from 1912 to 1961 – mostly miniatures but each of them full of atmosphere and personality.

During the 17th century, the Roman Catholic Church accepted instrumental interludes during mass as an addition or as a replacement of other parts of the mass. This practice inspired composers of that era, who wrote elaborate organ works to show their compositional skills.; Giovanni Salvatore (1620-1688) was one such composer, whose works are featured here. Salvatore worked as an organist in Naples.; With a compositional style reminiscent of the Neapolitan Baroque liturgy, Salvatore’s works feature rich vocals and instrumental polyphony.; Performing these works is organist Federico Del Sordo and the Nova Schola Gregoriana, conducted by Alberto Turco.

Salvatore Di Vittorio is seen as heir to the Italian neo-Classical orchestral tradition with a narrative style notable for its colorful orchestration and ‘swelling lyricism’ (American Record Guide). This second volume of his orchestral works includes a vivid portrayal of the cultural and historical diversity of his home city in Overtura Palermo. Sinfonia No. 3 evokes the beauty and magnificence of Sicilian temples, while Sinfonia No. 4 ‘Metamorfosi’, based on Ovid, is Di Vittorio’s most important work to date. His Overtura Respighiana and Sinfonias Nos. 1 and 2 can be heard on Naxos 8.572333.

WORKS FOR FLUTE AND HARP

For anyone new to opera, the first question is often: where to start? The 'Best Loved' series offers an easy answer to that question with a perfect introduction to the wonderful, varied world of operatic music. Highlighting some of the best-loved arias ever written, the series provides a convenient introduction to opera's extensive variety of sounds and styles. Opera can be defined as drama told through music and, at the height of it's popularity, conventions arose in which certain voice types came to share features of the characters they represented. This series presents the main vocal categories (soprano, mezzo-soprano, contralto, tenor, baritone and bass) by dividing them across four albums. The 'Best Loved' Arias series aims to demonstrate why opera as an art form remains as relevant and entertaining today as it was at it's inception 400 years ago.

Toshio Hosokawa is one of Japan’s most eminent living composers. The first volume in this series devoted to his orchestral works [8.573239] explores the idea of the blossoming lotus – “music as plant-like development and growth” – and continues here with Blossoming II for chamber orchestra. Woven Dreams traces the journey from womb to birth by employing techniques drawn from Gagaku, the ancient Japanese court music. Of Circulating Ocean the composer writes: “I am attempting to express in sound the flow and change of water... The ocean is for me the birthplace of life, a being possessed of infinite depth and expanse.”

After MANdolinMAN's successful first album "Old Tunes, Dusted Down" - a concept album devoted to the impressive field work of folklorist Hubert Boone - and a second album on which they explored the bossa nova style, MANdolinMAN return to their roots. The band digs even deeper into Flemish folk music and once again breathe new life into old tunes and melodies from the province of Flemish Brabant. Played on four mandolins, the music takes on new forms and teh historic melodies are injected with a modern and contemporary vigour, merged with various styles: African, polka, waltz, bluegrass and more. "...Passionate and polished playing...It's also refreshing to hear mandolins outside of bluegrass and Celtic folk settings..." - Rhythms, Australia

Adolphe Adam is best known today for the ballets Giselle and Le Corsaire, but his prolific output included 39 operas and several other ballet scores, including the vivacious tale of La Filleule des fées (‘The Fairies’ God-daughter’). The story takes place in an idealized countryside, revolving around the god-daughter Ysaure’s complex amorous affairs and the magical interventions of good and wicked fairies. With its brilliantly colorful orchestration, memorable themes and rhythmic momentum, this work is very much the equal of Giselle.