New York’s leading early music ensemble Tenet presents The Secret Lover, a program that celebrates music by, for, and about women and pays tribute to the 17th century Concerto delle donne, a trio of extraordinarily gifted professional female singers who were renowned for their performances in the courts of the late Italian Renaissance. Three of Tenet’s own leading ladies – sopranos Jolle Greenleaf and Molly Quinn, and mezzo-soprano Virginia Warnken – honor the spirit of these pioneering women with a recording featuring solos and trios that weave a story thread to create a musical portrayal of three women and their complex emotional lives. As a 21st century tribute, Tenet has commissioned a new work by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw, which they perform alongside music by Caccini, Rossi, Strozzi and others.

This world première recording of the second volume of José Antonio Bottiroli’s complete piano music, is performed once again by his award-winning protégé Fabio Banegas. The nocturnal themes heard in this album were inspired by the clear skies over the composer’s holiday home in Los Cocos, Cordoba Province, Argentina – these spellbinding works transcend earthly romantic concerns and venture into the stillness of the universe. Dedicated to Banegas, the Album Pages represent Bottiroli’s distinctive impressionist style, while the unique Five Piano Replies connects music with poetry written by the composer, and read on this recording by the renowned actor George Takei.

REVIEW:

Of Italian parents, José Antonio Bottiroli was equally to enjoy a busy life of a solo pianist, his portfolio of competitions numbering some seventy-three pieces by the time of his death in 1990. Their presence has only been revealed by his pupil, Fabio Banegas, whose initiative has lead to this Grand Piano series. They were never to engage with the use of atonality, but were tuneful and usually quite short, mostly gathered together to form scores of some length, the present release containing five works numbering 20 tracks. They covered the period between 1974 to 1984, the quiet nature of the Six Album Pages (Seis Hojas de Album) being particularly attractive, while much of the disc is taken up with Five Piano Replies (Cinco Replicas para piano). That work takes its name from the words of Bottiroli’s poems which then drew his own piano reply. Here the words are spoken by George Takei in English translations by Banegas, his diction is impeccable, though the words also come in the enclosed booklet. Much of the music on the disc only requires a modest technical ability and offer uncomplicated charm, Bottiroli being particularly drawn to the nature of the ‘Nocturne’, of which four are included here.

– David's Review Corner (David Denton)

In 1962 in recognition 50th anniversary of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's death, Sir Malcolm Sargent recorded his Songs of Hiawatha, considered a milestone in English choral music. Also included on this recording are the Symphonic Variations of Anton�n Dvor�k recorded in1959.

United States Marine Band: Great Marches Not by John Philip

This 2nd release continues Toccata Classics’ pioneering releases of music by Baltic, and Estonian, composers. Eller (1887–1970) was one of the founding fathers of Estonian music – the best-known of his students is Arvo Pärt. His huge output of piano music encompasses some 200 works, almost none of which have been recorded before.

This marks the CD premiere of the piano transcription of the Franck violin sonata by Alfred Cortot - with new pianistic textures giving a special sonority to the unique harmonies of the masterpiece - paired with the Prelude, fugue et variation transcribed for piano by Harold Bauer. Domenico Codispoti plays with a beautiful blend of grandeur and intimacy and a wonderful transparency.

Commissioned in 1846, MacBeth offered Verdi the opportunity to make a qualitative leap in his career and it's premiere was triumphantly received by audiences. Yet the libretto had proved problematic and many Italian critics did not share the composer's reverence for Shakespeare. Verdi surmounted all concerns with an opera that valued brevity but also preserved the play's most important elements. The formidable final concertato stands as one of his greatest achievements thus far, his pacing and detailing of the opera as a whole far surpassing his previous works. This production preserves the preferred 1865 revision of the work, sung in Italian and retaining the original 1847 finale.

Tears, that visible attribute of sadness, can, paradoxically, be a form of purification, a dam against despair. Sadness caused by an individual or collective experience of evil, transformed into a Christian hope for the fate altering, sometimes evokes creative thought, allows to enclose the experience within a form of artistic message. For Christians, the deepest, traumatic, experience of evil is Christ’s crucifixion. Perceived as a drama of the whole humanity, redeemed for future salvation and victory of good, it has found a special form in works of art created throughout centuries: paintings, musical pieces, poetry. Passion and Stabat Mater are canonical musical forms related to the drama of Golgotha. The latter introduces Christ’s co-suffering Mother into the scope of His drama. Numerous composers wrote music to the 13th-century sequence, the authorship of which is attributed to the Franciscan Jacopone da Todi. They were creating their own visions of a mother’s suffering, in which, over time, people began to perceive the drama of all mothers who weep their children. Przez ?zy (Tearfully) – such is the title of an album including pieces which are important not only due to their artistic merits. The content of each work touches upon matters fundamental for every human being, but also for the fate of a nation plagued by defeats, yet unceasingly rising from each one. That struggle often finds company in art and the beauty it contains, which in turn, to quote Norwid, is the shape of love.

Following successes with the Firebird (Naxos 8571221) and Petrushka (Naxos 8571222) Stravinsky's ballet the Rite of Spring was the most ambitious and controversial result of his collaboration with Sergey Dyagilev's Ballet ruses the premiere performance in 1913 leading to a riot in the theatre. The Rite of Spring portrays atmospheric and dramatic pagan rituals which culminate in a sacrificial dance during which the Chosen One dances herself to death. The Dumbarton Oaks concerto represents Stravinsky's later neoclassical style referring to Bach in it's compact scale and transparency of language.

Giovanni Legrenzi was one of the most gifted and influential composers of his generation, playing a decisive role in the establishment of Baroque style in northern Italy in the latter half of the 17th century. Drawing on the example of Monteverdi, Harmonia d’affetti devoti for two, three, and four voices with organ bass, was intended for liturgical use, but the sung texts depart entirely from tradition, being chosen to maximize the expressive power of their musical settings. This world premiere recording reveals Legrenzi’s extraordinary melodic refinement, rhythmic vitality and perfect elegance, all designed to rouse listeners to feelings of stupore et maraviglia (‘wonder and amazement’).

The Renaissance Men are back with their latest release on Navona Records: A VERY RENMEN CHRISTMAS: LIVE! The album, which features lush choral arrangements of traditional hymns and holiday classics, captures the festive spirit of the RenMen’s annual Christmas galas for listeners everywhere. Following on the heels of their 2019 release, RENMEN LAMENTS, this newest collection offers timeless seasonal chamber music arranged for tenor, baritone, and bass voices.

The album opens with soloist Corey Dalton Hart intoning the verse of Some Children See Him; the sparkling clarity of each rounded note is soon multiplied by the rest of the choir, elevating the performance to spiritual heights. This is followed by Cantate Domino, an invigorating setting of Psalm 96. With its aggressive rhythmic action and sensitive dynamics, the Latin text is presented as an arresting and captivating musical piece. Riu Chiu is a traditional Spanish song, and the RenMen bring it to life with passionate energy against the chattering rhythm of a tambourine. The RenMen treat listeners to favorite classics, as well, but always with that signature sound and attention to detail they are known for. Their rendition of I’ll Be Home for Christmas is a treatment of the song made popular by Rascal Flatts. Blending the choral group’s influences, this number incorporates jazz, country, and popular stylings seamlessly with traditional choral techniques. Later, songs like Jingle Bells and Frosty the Snowman offer a lighthearted counterpoint to O Magnum Mysterium and Angels We Have Heard on High, making this a joyful and inviting holiday album for the whole family.

Steeped in time-honored western choral music and flavored with yuletide fun, A VERY RENMEN CHRISTMAS: LIVE! brings the merriment of the RenMen’s live performances to your living room. Pour some eggnog, don that favorite Christmas sweater, and enjoy this collection of ancient and modern classics.

Enescu is one of the great composers, although the world has yet to realise the extent of his achievement. His 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, allowing us to present herein, the Unknown Enescu.

Classical Music

The Dresdner Philharmonie is one of Germany's major orchestras and has laid, together with his Principal Conductor Michael Sanderling, its focus on recording the complete cycle of symphonies by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) und Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975). After having released Beethoven's and Shostakovich's symphonies nos. 6 in 2015, for which the orchestra has received positive reviews, this recording is the second album from the cycle. Michael Sanderling decided to pair Beethoven's symphony no. 3 and Shostakovich's symphony no. 10 because of the similar motivation of both composers: to display the current political situation, i.e. Napoleon's reign and Stalin's dictatorial regime.

This release is Erwin Stein's chamber arrangement of Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 4. In 1921, Arnold Schoenberg organized a series of private concerts, performed by small ensembles. Schoenberg and Stein combined their ingenuity and created "sophisticated versions" of important orchestral works. These arrangements were usually for a few woodwinds, a string quintet, percussion and piano. Stein also added a harmonium, which was quite rare at the time but the organ adds a unique timbre to this arrangement.

String quartet-mates Bogdana Pivnenko, Taras Yaropud, Kateryna Suprun, and Yurii Pogoretskyi join forces with pianist Iryna Starodub to bring some of Ukraine's most brilliant twentieth-century music to the world.

Boris Lyatoshynsky was a leading member of a new generation of Ukrainian composers that emerged in the 1920s. His expansively conceived Ukrainian Quintet finds him at his most emotionally overt, with a heartfelt Lento e tranquillo second movement. Dedicated to Lyatoshynsky, Valentin Silvestrov’s Piano Quintet dates from the start of his Modernist odyssey of the 1960s, while Victoria Poleva’s withdrawn and secretive Simurgh-quintet is part of a style that embraces spiritual themes and musical simplicity, referred to as sacred (or 'holy') minimalism in the West.

REVIEW:

Violinist Bogdana Pivnenko and her team make a strong case for the Poleva's Simurgh-quintet, showing great sensitivity, yet also enough dynamic range to create a sense of momentum towards the ending. The pioneering nature of this disc will hopefully encourage more exploration of this repertoire.

-- Gramophone

 

Peter Garland is a composer, world traveler, musicologist, writer whose music is always informed by his well-traveled ear and strong sense of personal vision. (His music has appeared on five previous Cold Blue CDs.) After the Wars, a resonant, sometimes clangorous four-movement piano solo performed by new-music champion Sarah Cahill, displays a unique sense of grace and a sincerity of expression. Garland writes about the piece: “Each of the transparent and self-contained movements takes as inspiration a Chinese poem or Japanese haiku.... I explore the quality of resonance in the piano: not just the notes played on the keyboard, but the sense of echo and fade produced by a very deliberate use of pedaling, and the sustaining and release of piano keys after notes and chords are sounded. It creates a sense of timbral color and acoustic perspective (proximity and distance).... Each movement is like a single image, simply stated with relatively little temporal or thematic development—very much like the poems they are based on.” After the Wars is a 20-minute CD EP/single. MusicWeb Int’l wrote of it, “There is an interesting use of space and time in this work. On the surface, it’s quite simple, but the sounds develop over the span of the four movements as you slowly grow accustomed to the underlying structure…and after listening to this disc several times, I wanted to hear more.” Julien Cowley wrote in The Wire, “Pianistic shell bursts interspersed with wounded reflection …. Garland’s After The Wars… alternates ruggedness and delicacy, oppressive weight fringed with luminosity in a powerful evocation of desolation and scarred hope.” And Gapplegate Classical-Modern Review wrote, “Garland weaves a web of expressive, muted magic and we readily fall under its spell. Very recommended.”

Classical Music