Heritage of the March is a series of 185 vinyl records of marches and galops released from 1973 to the early 1980s. It remains the largest single march music record series in history, featuring close to 3,000 different marches. Volume 1 features the great marches of Robert Brown Hall and Carl Teike. Included with the album are notes on topics such as the Heritage of the March series, historical backgrounds on composers, instrumentation, the band recorded, or various personal stories from Bob Hoe.

Albrecht Mendelssohn Bartholdy was the grandson of Felix Mendelssohn. He was also a polymathic intellectual a prestigious jurist, political scientist, and one of Germanys observers to the Treaty of Versailles negotiations in 1919. Conscious of his heritage he also wrote songs, taking texts from Eichendorff, Goethe, Heine and the folk collection Des Knaben Wunderhorn, as had Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn. These ardent love songs were inspired by his student Magdalene Lena Schoch who, soon after her graduation, became the composers indispensable and trusted colleague and confidante. Through songs Albrecht Mendelssohn Bartholdy was able to reveal and profess his true sentiments, in a form seemingly acceptable to his family. And by setting to music poets whom Felix and Fanny had chosen earlier (Eichendorff, Goethe, Heine, and the folk song collection Des Knaben Wunderhorn), Albrecht paid tribute to his ancestors while consciously joining the lineage of the Mendelssohn familys musical tradition. Albrechts commitment to the cultural heritage of his hometown is reflected in his frequent choice of lesser\-known poets from Karlsruhe.

Louis Vierne is renowned as one of the most brilliant of all French organ composers. His piano works are little known despite their colourful, imaginative and inspiring treatment of the instrument. The early Deux Pièces owe their lyrical style to Mendelssohn, while the Suite bourguignonne exudes an atmosphere of joie de vivre and romantic contentment. Impressionism can be heard in the Trois Nocturnes, the third of which is considered one of Vierne’s masterpieces with its evocative use of birdsong, while the shadows of war echo in the solemn Poème des cloches funèbres. This is the first of two albums covering repertoire that deserves a place in the pantheon of French piano music.

REViEW:

The overall impact of Volume 1 is wide-ranging. The musical style stretches from the Romantic character piece to post-Impressionism. The compositions on this album are placed in chronological order.

The playing by Sergio Monteiro captures the magic of this music. He can seize Vierne’s “colourful, imaginative and inspiring” approach to the piano. The recording is superb. The liner notes by Peter Siepmann are excellent; they give a brief overview of the composer’s life and achievement, detailed notes about each piece, and successfully manages to fit them into Vierne’s overall achievement. Bearing in mind that there are few other sources of information about this music, they make essential reading.

I enjoyed this exploration of Louis Vierne’s piano oeuvre. To whom will this disc appeal? I guess that listeners who appreciate the great tradition of French piano music, from Alkan to Messiaen. It fills a gap that has been ignored by most recitalists and I look forward to the second volume soon.

– MusicWeb International

Albéniz’s distinctive musical vocabulary, with its sensual harmonies, rich melodic lines and characteristic rhythmic figures, has ensured lasting popularity, not least in his music for the piano. This album of four-hand piano music reveals the composer’s love of Spain’s regional music traditions, whether in the glittering sweep of the Suite española No. 1or in the Rapsodia Española where a hypnotic dreamscape meets dramatic outbursts. Two movements from Iberia – one of which is a rarely encountered arrangement by the great Spanish pianist Alicia de Larrocha – reveal a daring modernity that aligns Albéniz with Debussy and Ravel.

Carlo Domeniconi is a master of guitar composition. His fusion of Western and Eastern elements is a distinctive feature of his writing, and this album presents a body of work for the unusual combination of mandolin and guitar. The large-scale Durandarte charts a medieval knight’s wild journey through the countryside, which is accompanied by poignant love songs, elegies, and agitated cross-rhythms. In Tarantula precox he summons up a dervish-like dance; while in the kaleidoscopic moods of Zemrude the Orient and the Middle East merge dramatically. All but one of these works have been composed especially for the Mare Duo. The Mare Duo has inspired numerous composers to enrich the repertoire for their formation, including Carlo Domeniconi, Jaime Zenamon, Konstantin Vassiliev, Jürg Kindle, Frank Wallace, Thomas Allen LeVines, Lars Wüller, and many others. The Mare Duo is also interested in performing the classical repertoire for their formation as well as playing innovative transcriptions. Annika and Fabian have released several solo, duo and chamber music albums with labels such as Naxos, Schott Music and Gyre Records, and they have appeared on TV productions including MTV Unplugged.

Franz Liszt had an overwhelming impact on the musical life of his time through revolutionary innovations in harmony, form and pianistic technique. Both Liszt and his brilliant musical heir Ferruccio Busoni regarded their compositions as living entities, always suitable for recycling and reshaping to create new works. This program is an illustration of this practice, with Goran Filipec freely extending and varying the cadenzas in the Hungarian Fantasy, while Busoni enhances the emotional states of horror, grotesque comedy and sublime serenity in the Totentanz. Goran Filipec is renowned for his exceptional interpretations of the works of Franz Liszt and the high virtuosity of his Classical and Romantic repertoire. A laureate of several international piano competitions, Filipec has appeared internationally as a recitalist and soloist with symphony orchestras across Europe, the Americas and Japan. He has been invited on multiple occasions to the Mariinsky Theatre Contemporary Piano Faces festival, Progetto Martha Argerich and Dubrovnik Summer Festival. Filipec is co-founder and president of the Société Franz Liszt de Genève, which is devoted to the appreciation and study of the Hungarian composer’s oeuvre.

Babadjanian: Complete Works for Piano Solo

This inventive album presents Tchaikovsky's occasionally heard songs in arrangements for violin and orchestra by Peter Breiner. Although the songs may not often be performed today by singers, these irresistible melodies provide justification enough to be heard in this almost equally satisfying form: "Why?", "Not a word, O my friend", and "The fearful minute" are among the composer's most inspired creations and should be heard more often. A few, however, such as the ever-popular "None But the Lonely Heart", need the soulful evocation of the human voice to make their full effect. Ljuba Kazarnovskaya's vocal recital (also on Naxos) demonstrates what a great singer can bring to this impassioned music.

But overall Takako Nishizaki's beautiful singing tone and sweetly-wrought phrasing, partnered with Breiner's affectionate conducting, make these transcriptions pleasing and satisfying musical experiences, even without the love poems that were Tchaikovsky's main impetus. My only caveat concerns the disc's tracking order: placing so many slow and similar-key selections together unavoidably engenders feelings of monotony. But since this easily can be remedied with the CD's programmability, there's no reason for you to hesitate about obtaining this serene, relaxing disc. Naxos' atmospheric recording balances Nishizaki's violin significantly forward relative to the orchestra.

--Victor Carr Jr., ClassicsToday.com

Karl L. King wrote more than one hundred and fifty marches over his lifetime, many of which live on and are frequently performed to this day. His name exists among a pantheon of American march composers, including John Philip Sousa, Henry Fillmore and others. King’s work is unique in its combination of the quick precision of circus marches, with the regality of a military parade. Now, the highlights of Karl King’s work are available on one CD.

Karl King’s Greatest Hits includes the very best marches from the composer’s repertoire, including Barnum and Bailey’s Favorite, The Big Cage and The Melody Shop, all performed by the bands of The United States Military. This album is one of the few collections of Karl King’s marches, and may rank the best among them.

MOZART IN-BETWEEN

Nikolay Tcherepnin, a pupil of Rimsky-Korsakov in St Petersburg, achieved fame as a conductor, directing the premiere of his ballet Le Pavillon d’Armide as the opening to Diaghilev’s first Ballets Russes season in 1911 which also marked the Paris debut of Nijinsky. A work of great importance in the history of modern ballet, with choreography by Fokin, this enchanting score brings to life a Gobelin tapestry in a mysterious and haunted pavilion in the grounds of a French chateau. Cocteau described its effect as ‘better than a poem by Heine, than a story of Poe, than any dream, this is nostalgia for things partly seen, insubstantial and insistent.’ This recording was first released in 1995 on our Marco Polo label, and being the only complete recording of this stunning work currently available. This recording was acclaimed on its initial release, with Classic CD concluding that ‘excellent performances from the Moscow Symphony Orchestra under Henry Shek and sympathetic engineering make this worth seeking out’, and Fanfare stating that ‘the performance is thoroughly convincing and ably recorded... an enjoyable discovery.’

The All-Star Orchestra gives you a front row seat to the world’s greatest music, performed by top players chosen from over 30 great American orchestras, and conducted by Gerard Schwarz. The programs feature complete performances of popular masterpieces and world premieres of new works by leading American composers. Filmed in High-Definition with multiple cameras in and around the orchestra, the All-Star Orchestra celebrates the symphonic experience in the 21st century. The first work on this release is Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. The beloved orchestral showpiece is a series of imaginative portraits, including “The Glome,” the “Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks in Their Shells,” and the spectacular Finale, “The Great Gate of Kiev.” The next work is Sergei Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet. Excerpts from the famous ballet include: Capulets and Montagues, the Dance of the Knights, Portrait of a Young Juliet, Scene at the Ball, the Fight and The Death of Tybalt. Finally, Jan Sibelius’ Symphony No. 2 is presented. The work is a pinnacle of Nordic Romanticism. The grand, expansive melodies and searing harmonies have been called the musical equivalents of fire and ice. This is the most famous of the Finnish composer’s symphonies.

Alexander Koryakin, winner of the 2019 Jaén Prize International Piano Competition, has selected two perfectly paired masterpieces for his first Naxos recording. Liszts Vallée dObermann is inspired by his travels in Switzerland, and is a true symphonic poem for piano. Francks Piano Quintet in F minor, which Liszt himself found shockingly intense, is a cyclical work of passionate extremes, and a masterpiece of Franco-Belgian repertoire. Also included are Debussys LIsle joyeuse, which offers crystalline brightness, and Jorge Sastres Jaenera Ecos y temple, with virtuoso expression drawing on a wide range of influences. Alexander Koryakin began playing piano at the age of nine, gave his first recital at the age of ten and at eleven won his first competition. Over the course of his career, Koryakin has given over 500 recitals throughout Russia and Europe, including appearances at the Piano Loop Festival in Croatia and Gegen den Strom Festival in Germany.

Not Sousa, Vol. 3: Even More Great Marches Not by John Phili

Ondine is pleased to announce the first release with Austrian violinist Benjamin Schmid with a performance of Reger’s Violin Concerto and the Chaconne for Solo Violin. This release invites to listen to a captivating performance of Reger’s Violin Concerto, a hugely charming big romantic work with broad sentimental gestures.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy the National Symphony Orchestra presented a new work by Peter Lieberson called "Remembering JFK," an orchestral piece with movie star Richard Dreyfuss narrating excerpts from Kennedy's speeches. This CD includes that and previously unreleased pieces from Kennedy's 1961 Inaugural Concert. That concert includes Leonard Bernstein's "Fanfare for the Inauguration of John F. Kennedy" and "Symphonic Dances from 'West Side Story.' " Also included is George Gershwin's "Concerto in F."

Most of César Franck’s works received scant attention at the time of their composition and Hulda was never performed in his lifetime. The narrative is set in 14th-century Norway at the time of the great tribal kings, with marauding hordes spreading fear and terror throughout the land. Hulda is kidnapped and transferred from one tribe to the other, her family is killed and she herself is humiliated. However, Hulda’s spirit cannot be crushed, and she survives with revenge as her goal in life. Franck’s music portrays raging clans, bloodthirsty murderers and shattered lives, but also moments of exquisite tenderness in this acclaimed revival of a forgotten masterpiece that places the role of Hulda among the great tragic stage heroines.

Among Stephen Dodgson’s portfolio of more than 250 works are chamber operas, of which Margaret Catchpole: Two Worlds Apart is a most striking example. It is based on the true story of a woman who was convicted of the then capital crime of horse stealing and transported to Australia, and Dodgson conveys the romance and drama of the story with characteristic lyricism and rhythmic energy. Words are paramount for Dodgson, and his setting is vivid, immediate and tonal, with some swaggering rustic moments amidst the precise characterization and idiomatic instrumental writing.

Ira Hearshen is one of America's most popular and successful orchestrators and arrangers. He has written for many Hollywood films, such as Toy Story and The Scorpion King. He has also written for the concert stage, especially wind band, notably his Pulitzer Prize-nominated Symphony on Themes of John Philip Sousa, which is adventurously constructed, richly melodic and colorfully scored. His unique takes on Strike Up The Band and There's No Business Like Show Business provide moments of rich humor whilst the Divertimento for Band mines the American Jazz vernacular with true rhythmic verve.

Listen to the piano turn into a bumblebee, a donkey, trolls, a bird, a horse and a butterfly! Sometimes it isn't anything except a piano, but the music coming out of it is exciting and beautiful.