Classical Music

Roman Trekel’s sixth and latest OehmsClassics CD includes many well-known lieder by Richard Strauss as well as the Five Wesendonck Lieder of Richard Wagner. Strauss’ Four Last Songs is heard in the much more intimate version with piano accompaniment. Wagner designated two of the Wesendonck Lieder – Im Treibhaus and Träume – as studies for Tristan and Isolde. Roman Trekel has distinguished himself as one of the most sought-after baritones today. A close collaborator of Staatsoper Berlin and Daniel Barenboim, he has sung to great acclaim on the most important stages of the world.

Classical Music

In the spirit of Paul Simon’s epic, this new release from ARC features a collection of African songs. A potpourri of music has been chosen, from a capella to instrumentals, these songs hail from all over the great continent, including tunes from Zimbabwe, Namibia, South Africa, and more. The songs are sung in a variety of native African languages, showing the immense diversity that exists throughout the African countries.

Taking a phone call, Miklós Rózsa could scarcely believe that the legendary violin virtuoso Jascha Heifetz really was seriously interested in his Violin Concerto and ready to give the work its premiere – but so he did in 1956, and the first recording of the work, with its extreme technical challenges, was also made by Heifetz. And it had been just the same with the Violin Concerto by Korngold: the 1947 premiere and the brilliant first recording of this 20th-century classic again showcased Heifetz as soloist.

In the new generation of genuinely American musicians, one outstanding figure was Leonard Bernstein, an all-rounder whose early success led on to even greater heights. Bernstein rated his Violin Concerto of 1954, “Serenade,” inspired by Plato’s Symposium, as his best work ever, and this work too in its imaginatively slimmed-down scoring is now acknowledged to be an important 20th-century concerto for violin.

As an “encore,” this compilation includes the masterly Symphonic Dances from the immortal “West Side Story.”

REVIEWS:

This set of American concertos sees her widen her recorded repertoire still further and her performances of all three are highly successful. She’s very well supported by the young Finnish conductor, Santtu-Matias Rouvali who here appears with the two orchestras of which he’s currently Music Director. The Gothenburg Symphony does the honors on the first disc while disc two features the Tampere Philharmonic. Both orchestras make first rate contributions.

— MusicWeb International

Curtis K. Hughes' "Tulpa" is a collection of his rhythmically incisive music heard in solo, duo, and ensemble settings, and culminating in the title work for ten players and guest soprano. The Boston based Hughes writes from a deep collaborative connection with his performers, crafting pieces that balance harmonic adventure with stylistic diversity, and political subtext with sardonic humor. The music of Curtis K. Hughes (b. 1974) is characterized by its rhythmic restlessness, its harmonic adventurousness and its often volatile mix of diverse stylistic elements and political subtexts. It has been described as "fiery" in the New York Times, "well crafted" in the Phoenix, and "colorfully scored" in the Boston Globe. A professor of composition at the Boston Conservatory since 2008, Curtis was a student of composers Lee Hyla and Evan Ziporyn, and is a graduate of Oberlin College and Conservatory, and of the New England Conservatory (NEC), which honored him in 2010 with its Outstanding Alumni Award.

Despite our increasingly secular society, many modern composers, inspired by ancient religious texts, have written music that is spiritual, pure and remarkably peaceful. + This release, a celebration of modern sacred music composed 1983-2011, and much of it of Russian or East-European origin, includes young Ukrainian composer Dimitri Tchesnokov’s Three Sacred Songs, Alfred Schnittke’s Three Sacred Hymns and more established works such as Arvo Pärt’s Magnificat. + The young conductor Léo Warynski directs Les Métaboles, who sing Russian and Latin with excellent diction and clear focus.

Anyone standing on top of the walls of Jerusalem gazing across the old city will notice a massive spire made from white stone and covered with a pyramidal roof made from whitish slate. This spire belongs to the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, a Neo-Romanesque structure situated in the middle of the old city. The church today, is a major magnet for tourists and the center of a vibrant congregation. Playing this famous Schuke organ from this great church is the organist Gunther Martin Goettsche. Goettsche plays Buxtehude, Bach and Mendelssohn beautifully leaving no doubt why he is not only a great composer in his own right but one of the most celebrate organists of his time.

This exciting disc makes a very welcome return to the catalog on Naxos. The Respighi transcriptions reveal his typical mastery of orchestration, particularly in the larger pieces: the Prelude and Fugue BWV 532 and the great Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor BWV 582. The chorale transcriptions are also very lovely, and include the famous “Wachet auf” (“Sleepers Awake!”) BWV 645. In the Sonata BWV 1023, Ilkka Talvi proves a sensitive and musicianly soloist as well. However, the real treat is Elgar’s arrangement of the Fantasia and Fugue in C minor BWV 537. It’s insane. In the fugue, next to Elgar’s tambourine, glockenspiel, harp glissandos, and looney trumpet licks, Stokowski’s Bach might as well be the work of a period-instrument specialist. It’s wonderful, and Gerard Schwarz gets his players to blast their way through the piece with total conviction. The sonics also constitute one of the better efforts from this source and era (1990). Buy it and love it.

– David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

The New Yorker Magazine said of Sara Zahn's Leonard Bernstein tribute, "To call it the best musical theatre in town is an understatement." None other than Rex Reed proclaims: "It takes a classic singer to do justice to the classic songs of a classic composer. That's why I can think of no one more qualified to capture and honor the musical legacy of Leonard Bernstein in his centennial year than Sara Zahn."Harbinger Records is pleased to announce the long-awaited follow-up to Sara Zahn's previous release: Witch Craft: The Songs of Carolyn Leigh. That album was a smash hit with over 3,000 albums sold. Now Sara Zahn is back with another brilliant composer tribute. Leonard Bernstein was a giant of both the concert stage and Broadway. His songs are perfectly complimented by Sara's richly expressed singing. Sara Zahn is known internationally as a performer, recording artist and ASCAP songwriter, having written more than 200 songs for film and television. She has performed her solo acts to enthusiastic audiences in countries and venues as varied as Club Soda in Montreal, Canada, the Berkshire Theater Festival in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and the renowned opera house, Teatro Liceu, in Barcelona, Spain. She is the recipient of the Manhattan Association of Cabaret (MAC) Hanson Award as Outstanding Performer, and a Back Stage Bistro Award as Outstanding Vocalist. Sara has headlined throughout the years at Manhattan's top cabaret and jazz clubs, including Rainbow and Stars, The Metropolitan Room, Eighty-Eight's and The Russian Tea Room, and performed an unprecedented three-month engagement at Michael's Pub. Stephen Holden, in his rave review in The New York Times, wrote: "In a strong voice, Ms. Zahn sang everything with a clarity, assurance and measured passion that never got in the way of the material."

Classical Music

Of the hundreds of recordings of Schubert’s “Die Winterreise” this one’s uniqueness lies in the countertenor voice - in this case the contralto equivalent (“Altus”) voice of Israeli singer Zvi Emanuel-Marial, heard singing the composer’s glorious song cycle, a first-time recorded occurrence. + Mr. Emanuel-Marial has been much in demand on opera stages as well as in concert halls all over Europe. + He has participated in the Salzburg Festival as well as Mannheim Mozart Summer, and has sung Baroque and modern opera parts at opera houses in Amsterdam, Mannheim and Berlin.

Frédéric D’oria-Nicolas writes: “Over nearly twenty years, I have given hundreds of concerts as both a soloist and with chamber ensembles. I was lucky enough to fulfil many dreams: studying with Tatiana Zelikman in Moscow; discovering and performing true masterpieces; playing on extraordinary instruments in fabulous acoustic settings; and sharing the stage with many first-rate musicians who have left me with lasting memories, including pianist Alexander Kobrin, baritone Laurent Naouri, violinists Svetlin Roussev and Alena Baeva, and cellists François Salque and Boris Andrianov. But complete mastery of a concert program for any given performance means playing it time and time again in public. And to do that, one must accept a certain lifestyle, one that leaves little time for family and for exploring other passions. Now that I am the father of two little boys, I often play hide and seek. I also regularly don an Indiana Jones outfit of a new type, and I set off to track down forgotten recordings of legendary artists. Discovering these treasure chests that have remained unopened for decades, sharing such special times with the descendants of Navarra, Gilels and Peterson, hearing these gems for the first time and then restoring them – all these joys cannot be described. At this point in time, I have no doubt that my choices, the new emotions I experience and my demands on myself mean that I cannot round out my life more fully as a concert performer, at least for the moment.”

Wild at Heart is the second album in the “Chaconne Project” series on Sono Luminus, which reaches into the realm of parallel universes — connecting the past to the present, into the future. A collection of contemporary chaconnes that echo reincarnations of Bach’s iconic work for solo violin, Wild at Heart reflects a spectrum of sounds from delicate harmonics to hardcore noise. The composers featured on this album are Yoon-Ji Lee, Elizabeth Hoffman, Annie Gosfield and John King, who each introduce a unique voice.

If this global pandemic made anything more clear, it is that we are all connected. By remembering something that is not physically here on earth anymore, it is “kept alive.” At first, these new works felt like mere reactions to the Chaconne. But now I really see this second album as a series of reincarnations of Bach’s Chaconne. Each composer found their own personal connection to the Chaconne, giving new life to those select elements from the original work that resonated with them. Performing the original work connects us to the past, keeping Bach present. Creating new works inspired by the Chaconne facilitates a dream for a future. And, the new works are reproductions of the past in new lifeforms.

On this CD, the Swiss guitarist Roland Müller has brought together works for the guitar that are particularly popular and frequently requested in concert. The origins of the composers represented here illustrates the global relevance of the guitar, which is equally significant in the works of composers in Europe as it is in Latin America and Asia.

Any list of the most famous composers for the guitar would certainly include the Cuban Leo Brouwer, whose melancholy “Un dia di noviembre” can be heard here. Other sounds from the South American continent come from Jorge Gomez Crespo and Adrian Patiño.

Carlo Domenico, Enrique Granados, Fernando Sor and Roland Dyens represent the musical tradition of old Europe. The piece “Sakura” by Yuquijiro Yocoh introduces the colors of Japan to this varied program. Roland Mueller studied with Jury Clormann in Winterthur, Karl Scheit in Vienna and Sonja Prunnbauer in Freiburg. He performs concerts in many countries in Europe and in North America and gives master classes in the USA and Europe.

2000 release. The Nutcracker Christmas Eve narrated by Prunella Scales with the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Michael Halasz & the Moscow Symphony Orchestra conducted by Igor Golovschin.

Drawn from the worldwide catalog holdings of Sony Classical, which includes both the Columbia/CBS and RCA Victor label imprints, the SONY Classical Originals, SONY Classical Masters Singles and Box Sets, and SONY Opera House series offer an extensive selection of highly desirable and collectible EU (Germany) pressed import editions, smartly-designed and graphically-pleasing, featuring the most sought-after recordings by the world’s preeminent, legendary artists both past and present, with many titles newly re-mastered in 24bit High Resolution Audio.

Invented in Paris in 1846 by the Belgian-born Adolphe Sax, the saxophone was readily embraced by French composers who championed the new instrument through numerous ensemble and solo compositions. This tradition is celebrated in a program, performed by the young and exciting Kenari Quartet, that explores the saxophone in all of its colors and sonorities, from Pierre Max Dubois's light-hearted and jazz-inspired music to the lyrical and expressive world of Alfred Desenclos, and from Jean Francaix's witty "bantering" to the excitement and energy which closes Florent Schmitt's Quatour, Op. 102.

Classical Music

Henry Vieuxtemps was a violin prodigy who became a towering figure in a line of violinist-composers that stretches from Viotti to Ysaÿe, and whose playing led to Schumann’s statement that he “holds us in a kind of magic circle”. Influenced in part by Paganini, Vieuxtemps’s solo works demand the full arsenal of virtuoso techniques from lightning speed to the purest singing tone. The Etudes, Op. 48 include a piece subtitled ‘Torment’, while the Six Morceaux represent the composer’s homage to Bach in their polyphonic style.