This re-release of the Spring Symphony, complemented by two smaller but equally life-confirming works by Britten, marks the composer’s centenary year. It also forms part of Chandos’ Richard Hickox Legacy series. Hickox conducts the London Symphony Orchestra with the soloists Elizabeth Gale, Alfreda Hodgson, and Martyn Hill and a number of UK choirs.

Classical Music

Jennifer Pike was the youngest-ever winner of the BBC Young Musician of the Year in 2002. She has given performances throughout the UK and around the world and, now aged twenty-three, is widely regarded as one of the finest violinists in Britain. The pianist Tom Poster who performs alongside her is well known for his artistry and versatility, equally in demand as a soloist and as a chamber musician. This recital features violin sonatas by Brahms and Robert Schumann as well as Three Romances by Clara Schumann. Robert Schumann’s Violin Sonata No. 1 is very much a ‘Duo’, the two instrumentalists performing in equal partnership. It was written in 1851 at quite a stressful time in Schumann’s life. There is certainly an air of robustness, even roughness, in the baroque-style finale. By contrast, in Brahms’s Violin Sonata No. 1, the violin is always the principal voice, the piano never a competitor but rather a subtle accompanist. Brahms wrote the work in memory of his godson Felix Schumann who had died of tuberculosis at the tragically young age of twenty-four. Clara Schumann’s Three Romances was her only work for violin and piano, but whilst the violin is allowed to sing throughout, the complexity of the piano part testifies to its having been composed by a pianist of the first rank.

Reviews

Performance (Brahms) **** (R & C Schumann) ***** Recording *****

“...this is a refreshingly projected performance which boasts an almost ideal fluidity in terms of manipulation of tempo and nuance in the first movement [Brahms]... warm-hearted performances of the Clara Schumann Romances ... the distinction of the performances is never in doubt.”

Erik Levi – BBC Music magazine – May 2013

Paul Moravec has become one of the most acclaimed and admired composers of our time. His compositions stand out for their melodic poise, lyrical passion, and rich harmonic language. His Violin Concerto was grandly received and stands as one of his most important accomplishments. With its sensuous, romantic elegance and jubilant finale, it has earned a position as one of the most outstanding American compositions in this genre. The plaintive Shakuhachi Quintet integrates the shakuhachi, a classical bamboo flute, with the Western string quartet. Equilibrium was written specifically for this album. It recalls the B-A-C-H motive that is also heard in the Violin Concerto. Evermore was composed as a wedding gift for Maria Bachmann.

This is the first of two volumes of George Walker’s complete piano works, both featuring performances by Alexandre Dossin. The three sonatas heard here offer compelling contrasts. Sonata No. 1 (rev. 1991) is his longest and utilises folk tunes, No. 2 is darker and unified by tonal relationships, while No. 3 (rev. 1996) displays contrapuntal mastery and translucent elements. The album opens with the serene and majestic Prelude and Caprice, while both Spatials and Spektra are atonal. Bauble is heard in a world premiere recording.

REVIEW:

Judging by the compositions on this album, his piano music is communicative, colorful, expressive and, above all, characteristic. As a student of Rudolf Serkin, he was himself an outstanding pianist with an impressive career in Europe and the United States. This may have been conducive to his talent as a composer. 

Pianist Alexandre Dossin shows himself to be an accomplished interpreter, making Walker’s tonal language his own with his flexible and sensitive playing.

-- Pizzicato

What would singing be without words? When you combine wonderful poetry with exquisite music, the result is magical. In a rare break from the sacred collections they are famed for, this album from The Sixteen features a whole program of secular music devoted to English partsongs. From Stanford’s cycle of Eight Partsongs based on the sparing yet infectious poetry of Mary Elizabeth Coleridge to Bridges’ lyrically descriptive writing in Finzi’s Seven Poems of Robert Bridges and Imogen Holst’s six idyllic partsongs Welcome Joy and Welcome Sorrow using verses by John Keats, each setting captures the mood of the poem brilliantly.

“The Souls of Black Folk and the Vexed Fate of Black Classical Music”
Written and produced by Joseph Horowitz
Visual presentation by Peter Bogdanoff
Film three in the six-film Naxos series:
“Dvorak’s Prophecy: A New Narrative for American Classical Music”

If George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess – the highest creative achievement in American classical music – embodies a glorious (and controversial) fulfillment of Dvořák’s prophecy, there also exists a buried lineage of exceptional compositions by Black composers following in Dvořák’s wake. Coming first was his assistant Harry Burleigh, whose seminal settings of “Deep River” are – as our film illustrates – as much compositions as transcriptions. Burleigh’s initiative was sealed by singers like Paul Robeson and Marian Anderson. But William Levi Dawson’s oracular Negro Folk Symphony, though triumphantly premiered by Leopold Stokowski and his Philadelphia Orchestra in 1934, gathered dust – and Dawson was never to create the symphonic catalogue he seemed destined to undertake. Commentators include George Shirley, the most legendary name in present-day Black classical music, also Kevin Deas, music historians Gwynne Kuhner Brown and Michael Cooper, and conductor Michael Morgan. This film includes performances by pianist Benjamin Pasternack, The Fort Smith Symphony conducted by John Jeter, The Vienna Radio Symphony conducted by Arthur Fagen and Kevin Deas recorded in live performance.

“The disconnection between the rich history of Black American music and the classical music we typically hear has proved impoverishing. Because of our current conversation about race we now observe a seemingly desperate effort to make up for lost time, to present Black faces in the concert hall. I think that's only fair. But if it's going to become a permanent new way of thinking, there has to be new understanding. Dvořák's Prophecy is on time, it's a bull's-eye. We have been left unprepared for the current cultural moment. Joe Horowitz's book explains how we got there. . . . Dvořák's Prophecy proposes a bigger world of American classical music than what we have known before. It is more diverse and more equitable. And it is more truthful.” –from George Shirley's Foreword to Dvořák's Prophecy

On Synergy, flautist Sharon Bezaly and her musician friends demonstrate that one plus one can be much greater than two. Featuring works that celebrate the coming together of like-minded musicians, this project is a reminder, after more than two years of a pandemic that has affected all of us, that true musical synergy can only be achieved 'face-to-face’, rather than ‘remotely’. With his Concerto for flute and recorder, Telemann not only creates a fusion of different musical styles of his time – namely Italian, German and French – but also shows a gift for borrowing elements from popular music. Saint-Saëns brings swirling colors and energy with a Tarentelle for flute, clarinet and orchestra, that at times displays obsessive, even threatening undertones. From the same period, Doppler’s Concerto for two flutes is not far from the world of opera, providing the two soloists with ample opportunity to shine like two singers in front of an orchestra. In addition to celebrating the synergy created between musicians, the last two works featured on this disc, Bachianas Brasileiras No. 6 and Suite from the Orchestral Works, are telling examples of synergy between composers: it is as if Villa-Lobos and Mahler were shaking hands with Johann Sebastian Bach across distances of thousands of miles and hundreds of years.

REVIEW:

The principal attraction of this SACD, as good as the performances are, is the uniqueness of the program. Sharon Bezaly, one of the outstanding flutists of our time, has brought together composers not particularly associated with each other, and from different eras. While each performance is enjoyable, the real success of the disc is how the imaginative program flows in such a lovely way.

On Telemann’s Concerto in E Minor for Recorder, Flute, and Strings with harpsichord continuo. Bezaly is joined by one of the world’s premier recordists, Michala Petri, and their interplay is delightful. The final Presto is particularly inventive and sparkling in the way the two soloists play off each other.

Michael Collins and Bezaly play Saint-Saëns’s Tarantelle with total communication, lingering lightly over lyrical passages while clearly enjoying their virtuoso moments as well.

The big surprise for me was the Concerto in D Minor for Two Flutes by the flute virtuoso and composer Franz Doppler (1821–1883). The music is almost vocal in its melodic shape, but the remarkable aspect of the score, surprisingly, are the passages where the two flutes must play in unison. Bezaly and Walter Auer come close to making us believe that they are a single flute.

Next comes the one work without orchestra, Villa-Lobos’s Bachianas brasileiras No. 6, scored for flute and bassoon. Bram van Sambeek is a brilliant technician, but more importantly he produces a rich sound from his bassoon and provides harmonic support for Bezaly’s flute.

Her combination of rich tone and rhythmic precision is just right for The Mahler-orchestrated selections from the Second and Third Orchestral Suites. While no one would mistake this for an historically informed performance, it is an extremely stylish one. Michael Collins and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra bring elegance to the Air and energy to the Gavotte from the Third Suite. As an encore Bezaly give us a repeat of the Badinerie from the Second Suite.

BIS’s usual high standards of engineering and informative program notes round out a truly lovely disc.

-- Fanfare (Henry Fogel)

The first of its kind, this duet album is a musical journey that draws back the curtain which has obscured gay love-stories for centuries. In the 17th century, Venice offered a liberal safe haven of sorts to the gay community of greater Europe. There are accounts of outed artists escaping to Venice to live and work amongst its more permissive culture. Almost 400 years later, we reconnect with this uncommonly tolerant place and time to share a history that is yet untold. The album includes vivid and charming duets from Monteverdi’s 7th book of madrigals as well as his touching musical love letters (lettere amorose). Additionally, there are four modern-day premieres of works by the little-known composers Boretti, Melani, and Castrovillari; including a moving duet for the lovers Hercules and Theseus as they exit the underworld hand-in-hand. Solo arias by Cavalli and Stradella depict the yearning of hidden love, and the recording culminates with one of the most beautiful duets of all time, ‘Pur ti miro’ from Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea. This album is a recognition and celebration of gay love that spans the centuries.

Santtu conducts Strauss is a 2-volume album featuring four works by Richard Strauss conducted by Principal Conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali, two of which are live recordings of Santtu’s 2021/22 opening concert and first concert as Principal Conductor at Royal Festival Hall. Eine Alpensinfonie and Also sprach Zarathustra are live recordings of Santtu’s opening concert of the 2021/22 season, and his first concert with the Philharmonia as Principal Conductor. The concerts received great reviews. Tim Ashley (The Guardian) said “With the Philharmonia on tremendous form, Rouvali proved a fine Straussian, measured in his approach, and careful in his attention to detail and colour”. Rebecca Franks (The Times) awarded 5-star reviews: “There were “wow” moments aplenty as the Philharmonia laced up its hiking boots and happily hit every waymark in Strauss’s mountain journey: the glorious sunrise, the resplendent summit, the violent storm with wind machine, thunder sheet and organ.”

Founded in 1945, the Philharmonia Orchestra creates thrilling performances for a global audience and has premiered works by Richard Strauss, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Errollyn Wallen, Kaija Saariaho and many others. The Philharmonia has an extraordinary 77-year recording legacy, and has recorded around 150 soundtracks, with film credits stretching back to 1947. In the 2021/22 season the Orchestra performs in Romania, Spain, Finland, Greece and Germany. Santtu-Matias Rouvali is a Finnish conductor and percussionist, and is currently principal conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra. Rouvali continues his relationships with orchestras across Europe, including with the Berlin Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Munich Phillharmonic and the the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France.

REVIEW:

This is an Alpine Symphony where the thrills are just that much more thrilling, the sublime moments more sublime, the lyrical line more lyrical. I’d place this Alpine Symphony beside the Karajan, and it comes in much better sound. I consider every performance here nothing short of a triumph, so the strongest recommendation naturally follows.

-- Fanfare

Wagner: Highlights from "The Ring"

Classical Music

Classical Music

Includes work(s) by various composers. Ensemble: Elora Festival Singers. Conductor: Noel Edison. Soloist: Michael Bloss.

Expert in Baroque repertoire and making period discoveries, the Philadelphia-based ensemble Tempesta di Mare extends the commemoration of the 250th anniversary of Telemann’s death with this unique album played on historically authentic instruments. This recording is the first to bring together Telemann’s three surviving concerti-en-suite, from the intimate Concerto di camera to the more extravagant and impressive Concerto-Suites. Like many seventeenth-century German composers referring to their national idiom as a blend of French, Italian, and German styles, Telemann, who added rustic Polish music to this stylistic soup, quickly became the standard-bearer for this ‘mixed taste’ during the early eighteenth century, writing Italian concertos with a French accent, French overture featuring moonlighting concerto soloists, and Polish folk tunes that exuberantly dance their way into arias, concertos, sonatas, songs, and suites. One of his more interesting mixtures is the concerto-suite, a subgenre in which a soloist is featured in an opening concerto-allegro and in a following series of French dance movements. The three surviving works of this genre are brought together here for the first time.

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REVIEW:

It’s all top-drawer stuff. Not least thanks to the beautifully blended sound of the whole: crisp strings, mellow woodwind, subtle-but-there harpsichord and theorbo and a gorgeous soft-focus halo of horns. In short, every instrumental timbre is beautifully looked after.

– Gramophone

This album, featuring violinist Tianwa Yang and the Virginia Arts Festival Chamber Players, contains one of Igor Stravinsky’s small-scale theatrical works, The Soldier’s Tale (1918). Stravinsky wrote this work in collaboration with author Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz, and artist Rene-Victor Auberjonois. The work is based in a Russian folk tale by Alexander Afanasyev, and is scored for two speakers, a narrator, and a septet, as well as a non-speaking dance role. Pamela Berlin directs this production, and Joann Falletta is the conductor of the instrumentalists.

This live recording of Quincy Jones and his Orchestra was taken in Ludwigshafen in 1961. The orchestra had an all-star roster, including Freddie Hubbard, Benny Bailey, and Sahib Shihab. The program includes classics such as Summertime and Stolen Moments.

Rarely performed, the Piano Concerto of 20th-century Mexican composer Carlos Chavez receives an insightful, idiomatic, and compelling performance from Mexican-born pianist Jorge Federico Osorio, the Orquestra Sinfónica Nacional de México, and conductor Carlos Miguel Prieto. Surprising tempo changes and a whirlwind of styles make the work a thrill ride for performers and audiences alike!

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REVIEWS:

Make no mistake, Carlos Chávez’s Piano Concerto is a major work. Symphonic in length and very generous in content, it poses quite a challenge to the soloist, with hyperactive allegros surrounding an intimate and evocatively scored central Molto lento. Jorge Federico Osorio has no peer in this repertoire, at least on disc. He plays the work with unflagging energy and, where called for, sensitivity, and he’s very capably accompanied by Carlos Prieto and the Mexican National Symphony Orchestra. This is an important addition to the Chávez discography, and it’s very well engineered.

The couplings make an attractive series of encores. Both Chávez’s Meditación and Moncayo’s Muros Verdes are lovely, lyrical interludes, but Samuel Zyman’s Variations on an Original Theme is a major work more than a quarter-hour long. It’s not easy listening. The music is thorny and at times highly dissonant, but there’s also no question that the work has great integrity, a wide expressive range, and an impressive level of disciplined craftsmanship, nor is it particularly difficult to follow. Osorio, as in the concerto, plays all three solo works very well indeed, and as you’re not likely to find this repertoire so convincingly done anywhere else, this disc earns an enthusiastic recommendation.

-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com
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The program includes a postlude of solo piano music by Chávez and two of his younger compatriots. The Chaváz piece is a lovely youthful composition, written when he was 19, and owes as much to the influence of Grieg as it does to any New World sources. José Pablo Moncayo, a student of Chávez, contributes a beautiful and rather impressionistic work. Finally, there is the variation set by Samuel Zyman, a contemporary Mexican composer. This dark, even bleak, work is certainly the most harmonically advanced music on the CD, but makes for a somewhat jarring break from the more mellifluous material represented by Chávez and Moncayo. But the reason to acquire this recording is for the brilliant Chávez concerto, which has not been recorded for years.


Peter Burwasser, FANFARE.

During the 2015/2016 season, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra celebrates their 125th birthday. This two disc set includes the very best compiled recordings over a three decade span, including works by Wagner, Nielsen, Webern, Holst, and more. The Royal Scottish National Orchestra was originally founded in 1891 under the name the Scottish Orchestra. They have worked with the very best conductors, composers, and soloists, Aaron Copland, Luciano Pavarotti, and Richard Strauss to name a few.

All selections are performed twice on this box set. All selections on CD 1 are sung in their original languages. The same works are repeated on CD 2, where the German language songs are sung in English. The Hebrew and English language works on CD 2 are again sung in their original form.