"The Tres temas de recuerdos are inspired chapters of memory that Jaume Pahissa (1880-1969) composed for guitar in 1938 in Argentina, evoking nostalgia for his distant Catalan homeland that he was forced to leave in 1937 owing to the Spanish civil war. Besides their meditative beauty, these pieces also offer us the inspiration for the title of this release, similarly prompted by 'recollections'. This is expressed, in fact, through a programme that to a great extent embodies the special role played by 'memory', thanks to various pieces that engender emotional reference within the collective imaginary. Pieces that are deeply rooted in the conscience of those who love the guitar and it's close association with it's most representative historical figures. Alongside these pieces inspired by memory, their composers and their arrangers, and the symbolic reality that each of them reveals, I have added other works, perhaps less familiar to the public at large. These are instead linked - more or less openly - to my more personal references, associated with the passing of my own experience; so these too, on account of their individual peculiarity, are included as part of the Temas de recuerdos that I am proposing here, in the hope that they can also become such for the listener. That is, I attempt to understand the reason for this more personal association in certain pieces that are particularly suitable for the purpose, by exploring them from within: like reflecting oneself in one's own reiterated sonic presence, almost wishing to find a secret account of the steps of one's own story. The hope is to unveil within the identity of these themes the birth of an unforeseen source of affection for our own life." (Stefano Grondona)
Camarero: A Liquid Theater / Rodriguez, Zahir Ensemble
IBS Classical
CD
$17.99Nov 12, 2021
“Somewhere I read that Luis Buñuel, at the premiere of his film L’ GE D’OR went up to the stage and said: “this is my film L’ GE D’OR, if you think it’s strange, life is much more strange”. "Music for a Liquid Theater" (2018) As in many other works of mine, musical space is developed as an important aspect of composition; when performed in a concert hall, some instruments have a special disposition, violin is in the left corner and violoncello in the right corner of the stage, while flute and clarinet play from the other corners behind the audience. Abreviaturas (1999), is a very special work for me, with no dynamics –the whole work in pianissimo-, no effects, almost no timbre, only duration and pitch (rhythms and notes). "Música para contemplar la evolución de una ola a cámara lenta" (2012), as strange as it may seem, the title -Music for contemplating the evolution of a wave in slow motion- came to me as I was watching a documentary on tv; there was a fantastic image of a wave from the inside moving in slow motion, like a living sculpture made of soft glass. "La Memoria del Agua" (1995), On the days I was working on both pieces, I remember the deep impression that I received from the Ives Klein retrospective at the Reina Sofía Museum in Madrid.” (César Camarero)
Nowadays, the oeuvre of Polish composers active in the 19th century can be considered one of the most fascinating chapters in the history of our national music. In recent years, works of many of them have experienced a well-deserved renaissance, which is reflected in their increasingly marked presence in concert halls and among album releases. This is a direct result of intense research activity of musicologists as well as of the considerable interest and growing awareness of performers, who are more and more keen to include these pieces in their repertoires. This release is a collection of chamber music by Jozef Nowakowski and Fryderyk Chopin, performed beautifully by the Warsaw String Ensemble.
Guitarist Christoph Denoth returns with a new album of works inspired by South America, centered on the iconic tango. The continent of South America, with its diverse countries and various lines of historical development, has stimulated the creation of many musical traditions. But throughout the heterogeneous patterns of culture, the guitar has a central part to play as a national instrument in all South American countries. This selection (titled tanguero, describing one who sings or dances the tango) brings together many of the styles and genres of that vast continent in a colorful blend of melodies, rhythms, and harmonies. Christoph Denoth was born in Basel, Switzerland, and spent an important part of his early life in the Swiss mountains. His extraordinary musical talent became apparent early on, at which stage he already loved the guitar. He began his concert career at age 15. His studies of the classical guitar led him to the conservatories of Lucerne, Basel, and Zurich. He attended master classes with Pepe Romero and others and trained as a soloist with Oscar Ghiglia at the Basel Musikakademie. He regularly performs as a soloist with chamber orchestras and ensembles such as the Nouvel Ensemble Contemporain (Peter Maxwell Davies) or the Offenburger Streichtrio, and at international music festivals such as that of Schleswig-Holstein. He has also performed as a soloist at Carnegie Hall in New York, at the Berlin Philharmonie, and at the Salzburg Mozarteum.
In releasing an album entirely of his own music, Guitarist, Lutenist and composer Lars Hannibal reflected upon an extraordinary – and somewhat unorthodox musical career. While studying classical guitar and lute with the great masters of the art, Hannibal lived a rich double life playing in a variety of bands and creative ensembles in artistic foment of ‘60s and ‘70s Counter Cultural Århus. It was during this time that Hannibal began finding his own creative voice, exploring the exciting intersections between Baroque and Classical form, the direct earnest expression of Danish folk music, the ear-pleasing appeal of popular song and the expressive possibilities of modal jazz. Hannibal has also found great joy in arranging music for the different ensembles he’s performed with, resulting in hundreds of arrangements for various instrumental combinations with guitar. Finally, as one of the most active musicians in Denmark, Hannibal has been a champion of living composer, including many of Denmark’s finest, including Jørgen Jersild, Palle Mikkelborg, Herman D. Koppel, Thomas Koppel and Vagn Holmboe. When assembling this program, it was only natural that Hannibal would draw on both his original works and his arrangements of Danish song. As a special treat, Hannibal, ever the mutli-faceted musician, the Neo-Classic composer, the pop songsmith, the faithful arranger of Danish folk song also takes pride in being Hannibal the Poppa, with his daughters, Agnete and Amalie and his life-long musical companion, his former wife Michala Petri joining him on his musical journey!
This double album is the third and last volume of Easy Studies for Guitar. The aim of the series has been to collect original works for the guitar by 20th- and 21st-century composers that fulfill didactic functions as well as being entertaining to play and listen to. Many of the studies here are receiving their first recordings, and the pieces by Biberian, Cavallone and Franco are so far unpublished. Music by the Belgian organist and composer Jean Absil (1893–1974) shows the influence of Wagner in the same way as his better-known compatriot Franck, and he absorbed the music of Milhaud and Schoenberg during his time in Paris. However, the Pièces Caractéristiques of 1964 capture a piece of sunshine no less than the folk- inspired Sei Canzoni Ebraiche by Cavallone or the Sette Aphorismi of Franco, even while certain movements exploit the more mysterious, nocturnal character of the guitar. The idea for Brèves de Pupitre sprang from Olivier Chassain’s work as a teacher, arising from his students’ basic technical needs or flaws – as well as his own. Cristiano Porqueddu is a distinguished editor and composer as well as performer, and he has selected an especially attractive set of Ten Studies for Guitar from among the many unpublished works by Gilbert Biberian, a British composer/guitarist born in 1944. Perhaps the set’s most intriguing rarity comes from the gifted Viennese composer Ferdinand Rebay, active in the early decades of the last century, and featured on a couple of previous Brilliant Classics albums; though himself a pianist rather a guitarist, he was encouraged to turn to the guitar by a fellow-professor and also by his guitar-playing niece; he eventually composed around 600 pieces for the instrument, including these Ten Little Songs without Words.
The Newberry Consort and EnsAmble Ad-Hoc present A MEXICAN CHRISTMAS, an album of 17th century traditional music for worship and celebration. The collection features pieces commonly heard in both liturgical service and in the streets, and evoke the solemnity and fanfare heard in Mexico City’s convents and plazas, with jubilant vocals and lively strings, guitars, and percussion. Organ, harp, bassoon, and a variety of Mexican traditional instruments bring this exuberant and diverse music to life.
Prisma, Vol. 2: Contemporary Concertos and Works for Orchestra / Various
Navona
CD
$16.99May 10, 2019
Navona Records proudly presents PRISMA VOL. 2, an epic journey into the world of the large ensemble with five of today’s top contemporary composers. PRISMA 2 opens with two debuts: James Lentini’s stunning first release with PARMA Recordings, and the Zagreb Festival Orchestra’s first project on the Navona label. Lentini’s Concerto for Guitar and Strings, performed with the string orchestra by virtuoso guitar soloist Iliana Matos, begins with a fresh and buoyant motive that serves as a foundation for the entire movement. Orchestra and guitar converse back and forth as the piece moves through a melancholic, reflective second movement, and then rises back to full energy with the brisk final movement. This is followed by Rain Worthington’s Full Circle, a somewhat dissonant, striking piece with the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra that follows the emergence and recession of emotions through a lifetime, as soloists emerge and recede from the orchestra. Jan Järvlepp’s Camerata Music, is a bright, tonal piece in a style that the composer calls “post-academic.” Inspired by the vallenato styles of folk music that Järvlepp heard while visiting Colombia, Camerata Music uses percussion to capture the joyous, rhythmic energy of that musical tradition. Peter Castine’s Aperture takes the album in a more somber direction with unsettled dissonance and fragmented feeling, filled with the horror following the 2001 World Trade Center attacks. The composer sets the solo flute and concertino string quartet at odds with one another, clashing even as the orchestra sometimes intervenes to help. PRISMA 2 is brought to a close with composer Beth Mehocic’s Left of Winter, written as a prelude to Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. It has the same primal rhythms as Stravinsky’s ballet, but with the addition of cymbals, trumpets, and winds that paint the image of young men going off to war.
This album of 20th-century masterpieces for flute and guitar features works composed especially for this combination of instruments plus arrangements of works by Bartók and Ravi Shankar. Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Sonatine for Flute and Guitar is considered to be one of the finest compositions for this combination of instruments, contrasting joyfulness with poignant melodies. The warm sound of the alto flute is given expressive range in Takemitsu’s Toward the Sea, while Piazzolla’s Histoire du Tango takes us on a journey from the form’s beginnings in the brothels of Buenos Aires, to its acceptance as one of the most loved musical art forms of the 20th century.
The pieces composed by Matteo Rigotti and presented on this album are intended for different instruments and offer the opportunity to explore and learn about the varied compositional world of the author. The instrumental variety is rich and always different. Only in Q and Q2, the instrument is the same: the clarinet. However, in this specific case, the two pieces seem to be two moments of the same thought. The second one appears indeed as an extension of the first one, almost a "reaction" to it, creating a narration that transversely joins two tracks, distinct in the album, in a "before" and a "later". In all the other pieces the situation appears limited to the piece itself which becomes a different place each time, a time and a space in which numerous gestures happen. This means that, within each of these "microworlds", sound research and experimentation paths start by taking advantage of both the possibilities that the instrument offers and, in ensemble pieces, the possible result from the interactions between the instruments.
Aleksandr Tsiboulski is first-prize winner in numerous competitions including the 2006 Tokyo International Guitar Competition. His playing, which transcends the image of the technically flawless competition winner, has been praised by the Age for it's '
Leave your thoughts here is Mr Mibbler's third album following The Long Journey released in January 2021. Mr Mibbler is musicians and producers Thom Hell, Jørn Raknes and Vidar Ersfjord, and this time they have invited an incredible number of first-class Norwegian musicians to play around in their musical world. The guest musicians have been the starting point for the tracks and Mr Mibbler has built the songs around their contributions. Among the guest artists we find very exciting names such as Knut Reiersrud, Lindstrøm, Andreas Ulvo, Mathias Eick, Jan Bang, Bjørn Klakegg, Jørgen Munkeby, Sigmund Groven and Nils Petter Molvær, all experienced and acclaimed within their genres in Norway and internationally. This makes Leave your thoughts here a musical journey of different moods, exciting instrumentation and a wonderful mix of genres. You will hear folk, jazz, ambient and electronica performed by the very best musicians in Norway.
Rooted in European music, native folk traditions and often infused by jazz, Brazilian music encompasses a huge variety of dance forms and songs. Prize-winning guitarist Pedro Aguiar has selected a panoramic recital to illustrate these elements which include the choro and music rich in melody and rhythmic vitality. From Villa-Lobos, whose Charos No. 1 is one of the most popular guitar solos ever written, through to the work of the revered Dilermando Reis, and on to contemporary examples of the genre, this is music of dazzling virtuosity and finesse.
-----
REVIEW:
Pedro Aguiar’s playing is irresistible. This album is a must for guitar lovers and fans of Brazilian music.
Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez - Ponce: Concierto del sur - Garcia: China Sings! / Kuang
Naxos
CD
$9.99$19.99Save 50%Jul 24, 2020
Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez is the most celebrated classical guitar work of the 20th century, music that conjures up the color, sophistication and glories of eternal Spain. The founding father of Mexican music, Manuel Ponce, wrote his Concierto del sur for Segovia, and it is a work of vivid grandeur, Sevillian dances and melodic richness. To complete the programme, prize-winning international virtuoso Junhong Kuang plays a piece dedicated to him – Gerald Garcia’s China Sings! – a rhapsody inspired by two popular Chinese tunes. Darrell Ang is the artistic director and chief conductor of China’s Sichuan Symphony since December 2016. He regularly conducts the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, ‘Giuseppe Verdi’ Symphony Orchestra, Munich Radio Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Queensland Symphony Orchestra, National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, Singapore Symphony and at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg. Darrell Ang received a GRAMMY Award nomination for his Naxos debut recording of Symphony ‘Humen 1839’ by Zhou Long and Chen Yi (8.570611). His most recent albums feature Kabalevsky’s First and Second Symphonies (8.573859) and d’Indy’s incidental music Médée (8.573858), among others.
Rebay: Complete Sonatas for Violin/Viola & Guitar / Kayaleh, Kolk
Naxos
CD
$19.99Jul 24, 2020
Ferdinand Rebay was born in Vienna where he studied piano and composition, winning the Brahms Prize. He wrote operas, a symphony, concertos and many songs, but was increasingly drawn to writing for the guitar for which he wrote 600 pieces of various kinds. The three sonatas recorded here are little known and reflect Rebay’s immersion in Romantic neo-Classicism. Themes are lyrical, utilizing folk song, energetic March themes and variations, with a tapestry of emotions both sombre and exuberant. Laurence Kayaleh has recorded the complete works for violin and piano by Medtner, Honegger and Catoire for Naxos. Her Catoire recording (8.573345) was selected in Fanfare’s ‘Want List’ for 2016: ‘The brilliant performance by violinist Laurence Kayaleh and pianist Stéphane Lemelinis lively and its sound is clear, clean and pleasantly warm.’ Guitarist Michael Kolk has performed at music festivals and concert halls throughout Europe and North America. A prizewinner at numerous guitar competitions, he has released four solo albums to date, as well as three releases as part of the HK Guitar Duo, and an album of Mauro Giulianiduos with Jeffrey McFadden (8.572445).
-----
REVIEW:
These sonatas are full of attractive melodies and a sophisticated harmonic awareness, shot through with a very ‘Viennese’ elegance and laced with debts to the folk tradition. The playing of Laurence Kayaleh is equally fluent and beautifully phrased, whether she is playing violin (a 1742 Guarneri) or viola (an instrument of 1820 by Giuseppe Dalaglio); her playing is lyrically eloquent and rich in tonal variety. Guitarist Michael Kolk complements her well and when his instrument is foregrounded (as in some of the variations which make up the second movement of the Sonata in C minor) his judgement of dynamics and his rhythmic sense are both faultless.
All three of these works are rewarding and enjoyable listening—so long as one doesn’t insist that a composer (poet, painter…) should be very much of his/her time. Though never intellectually profound or emotionally urgent, Rebay’s sonatas do explore a range of feelings, from the melancholy to the joyful.
Paganini: Centone Di Sonate / Gianfranco Iannetta, Walter Zanetti
Tactus
CD
$21.99Nov 06, 2020
The Centone di Sonate M.S. 112 is the last organic collection of sonate for violin and guitar composed by Paganini. The drawing up of this work, which is formed of 18 sonate evenly divided into three booklets (marked a, b and c) as was customary for a publication, probably began in Prague towards the end of 1828 and went on for several 11 years, during Paganini’s tour in Europe. It seems likely that the title Centone was attributed to the manuscripts after the composer’s death, during an operation of rearrangement of the unpublished material, with the purpose of generally indicating a collection of various pieces. Gianfranco Iannetta on violin and Walter Zanetti on guitar offer us the first six sonatas of the collection in a recording that for the first time is based solely on Paganini's autographed manuscripts.
The first decades of the 19th century saw an exceptional flourishing of guitar music, as an important modification in the instrument's structure had occurred in the late 1700s: the addition of a sixth string to the five in use up to then. With six strings, the guitar quickly became popular all over Europe, especially Vienna and Paris, thanks to the works of several Italian and Spanish guitarists. Among them was Mauro Giuliani, who was born near Bari, in 1781. Little is known about his training years, but in 1806 he was already an accomplished artist living in Vienna, where had friendly relationships with Beethoven, Hummel and Moscheles. Back in Italy in 1819, he failed to achieve the same success and prematurely died in Naples in 1829. In his works Giuliani skillfully merged the legacy of the Italian 18th-century instrumental tradition with the achievements of the Viennese music culture. His works are in pure classical style, but with a grace and melodic spontaneity that are typically Italian. Christian El Khouri began to study guitar at a young age. After graduating at Milan's "Giuseppe Verdi" Conservatory, he also earned a teacher's diploma which led him to his current role of guitar professor at the "Liceo Musicale P. Secco Suardo" in Bergamo. He has achieved important results as soloist in several Italian and international competitions. Maestro El Khouri's lively performing activity leads him to concertize extensively in Italy and abroad, as soloist as well as a member of ensembles and chamber music orchestras.
“…a lot of the time I play music from other worlds …. Welcome to My World” World premiere on the NEUE MEISTER label: International classical superstar NIGEL KENNEDY releases his first album of his own compositions, entitled “My World”. The first album by Nigel Kennedy in which he features his own compositions is at the same time the most intimate view yet of his world: a colourful kaleidoscope of sounds. He has written works inspired by his mentors Yehudi Menuhin, Isaac Stern and Stéphane Grappelli, and artists like Mark O’Connor and Jarek Smietana, while composing a whole new suite to Anton Chekhov’s play “Three Sisters”. On “My World”, Kennedy shows how well string orchestra, rock band and piano go together once you forget the stereotypes. Nigel Kennedy, who turns 60 on December 28, 2016, has been true to his vision throughout his career: making music that transcends all conventions. “My World” retraces how meeting his mentors shaped his musical understanding and changed his career path. Yehudi Menuhin probably had the most important influence on Kennedy: “I feel that Yehudi Menuhin gives me a direct route back to the music of Bach. Also Menuhin paid for my education at his school so without him I would probably not be playing classical music at all.” Next to Menuhin, meeting Stéphane Grappelli was a crucial moment: “I met Stéphane for the first time when he was playing to us kids in the Yehudi Menuhin School; I surprised him by jumping on the stage and joining him in his performance, which was the catalyst for a long musical relationship with him. He loved it that a 14-year-old kid was into his music and could also play it. From my point of view, it was invaluable to meet a musician who, when playing, proved that serious music doesn’t have to be depressing.” Listening to “My World” it becomes very clear how strong jazz music has influenced Kennedy. This is to be heard in the dedications to Polish jazz guitarist Jaroslaw Smietana or Nashville based country-jazz-blues violinist and composer Mark O’Connor and also represented in the band line-up. Orphy Robinson, who has already played with Don Cherry, Wynton Marsalis, David Murray and many famous jazz musicians, plays vibes and percussion alongside Adam Czerwinski on drums. Tomasz Kupiec on bass has to lay the groundwork for three guitarists: long-time touring guitarist Rolf Bussalb, young Julian Buschberger and Doug Boyle, who used to play with Robert Plant and is now assistant producer of Nigel’s album. Considering this line-up, “My World” sounds surprisingly calm and classical. The Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra has a permanent role throughout, while the band only plays some of the time. Overall Nigel demonstrates what a great soloist he is: virtuosic but never plays a note too many – just like his musical idols. He has written an album full of great melodies. “Three Sisters” is clear evidence of this. The inspiration for the suite comes from Nigel’s wife Agnieszka, who has produced the play by Anton Chekhov for the stage. Fascinated by the underlying psychological study of the play, Nigel started writing his own “Three Sisters” suite.“
![[BLUE] / Lars Hannibal](http://arkivmusic.com/cdn/shop/files/3856781-3142498.jpg?v=1786712931&width=800)
![[BLUE] / Lars Hannibal](http://arkivmusic.com/cdn/shop/files/41XD-Ef-5HL_c88f90a8-f04e-45a7-a6ad-d07d44edd8f8.jpg?v=1786712931&width=800)
![[BLUE] / Lars Hannibal](http://arkivmusic.com/cdn/shop/files/3856781-3142498.jpg?v=1786712931&width=400)
