In “Our American Roots” Feldman applies his talent and skill to an all-American program of music for cello and piano—to include a pair of rarely heard cello sonatas by Barber and Walker. The remainder of the program consists of arrangements of musical Americana: arias from Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess and his Preludes, and two movements from Copland’s Billy the Kid.

While greatly revered in Russia, the profound and beautiful music of neo-romantic composer Georgy Sviridov (1915-1998) is hardly known beyond his homeland's borders. His predominantly vocal output reflects his strong affinity for many of the finest Russian poets, who inspired him to compose highly idiomatic music to match the emotional intensity and expressive passion of their verses. Thus did Sergei Yesenin's vivid and moving poetry spark the creation of the stunning twelve-song cycle Russia Cast Adrift. Legendary baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky developed especially strong personal and artistic bonds with Sviridov in the composer's final years, compelling Sviridov to composer specifically for him. Dmitri infuses Sviridov's songs with the same emotional intensity, musical insight and sheer vocal glory that have distinguished his many earlier Delos releases. Joining Dmitri in this world premiere recording of the orchestral version are his long-time collaborators Constantine Orbelian, conducting the St. Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra, and the Russian folk music ensemble Style of Five.

Who actually wrote Johannes Brahms’ Hungarian Dances? Brahms probably heard most of these tunes as a child growing up in Hamburg, played by the Gypsy orchestras that were famous for their “Hungarian” dance tunes. These passionate and high-spirited melodies fascinate with their abrupt changes of mood, fanciful reveries and extravagant embellishments. Brahms may even have written a few of the melodies himself! But his hand is evident in the lush harmonies and emotional depth. This version for violin and piano was arranged by Brahms’ friend Joseph Joachim, the greatest violinist of his generation. The dances are played brilliantly by violinist Sabrina-Vivian Hopcker, who captures flawlessly the wild exuberance and deep sorrow of these alluring tunes. Fabio Bidini is the ideal collaborator, and together they have produced an album of uncommon beauty and appeal.

Internationally renowned soprano Ekaterina Siurina, in her first album for Delos, presents a choice array of beautifully sung French and Italian opera arias by Gustave Charpentier, Charles Gounod, Georges Bizet, Giacomo Puccini and Giuseppe Verdi. Siurina’s husband, acclaimed tenor Charles Castronovo, joins her in famous duets from Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette and Puccini’s La bohème. Sensitive and sonorous orchestral support comes courtesy of the Kaunas City Symphony orchestra under the baton of GRAMMY-nominated conductor Constantine Orbelian. One of the leading sopranos of her generation, Ekaterina Siurina performs at many of the top opera houses across the world. Ekaterina studied at the Russian Academy of Theatre Arts, in Moscow and became a soloist with the Municipal Moscow Theater, Novaya Opera, where she made her professional debut as Gilda in Rigoletto singing opposite the world-renowned baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky. She was also a prize winner of the Rimsky-Korsakov competition in St. Petersburg, and of the Elena Obraztsova Competition.

Yes, there was another Cleopatra! She was married to Tigranes the Great, King of Armenia, and together they created an Armenia that reached from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean. The resplendent and regal voice of soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian is perfectly suited to the role of Cleopatra. Bayrakdarian shines in arias from three rarely heard operas about King Tigranes and his queen. Bayrakdarian’s multi-hued voice relates the passion, drama, and fervor of the love story of Tigranes and Cleopatra. Bayrakdarian sparkles in five arias from Il Tigrane by Baroque master Johann Adolph Hasse, famous in his day as one of the foremost composers of opera. Arias by Vivaldi and Gluck add further excitement to the album. Vivaldi, known primarily for his instrumental music, stands out as an opera composer, while Gluck, in an early opera, already shows his mastery of the form. Bayrakdarian is supported by the Grammy-nominated team of Constantine Orbelian— “the singer’s dream collaborator” (Opera News) —and his marvelous Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra.

Brilliant young Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Martinez has been taking the classical world by storm ever since her student days at Julliard. She has won consistent acclaim at top domestic and international venues for her brilliant technique, aesthetic sensitivity, interpretive acumen, and emotional impact. Here, in her first recording for Delos, she offers a wide-ranging program of classics by Beethoven, Rachmaninoff, and Szymanowski. She also pays homage to acclaimed contemporary composers Mason Bates and Dan Visconti whose title selection, Amplified Soul, was written for her and is heard here in its world premiere recording. Piano fans who want to keep up with the brightest new talents in the field owe it to themselves to get to know this phenomenal keyboard virtuoso.

Praised for her “impeccably pure and iridescent voice” (Financial Times), soprano Adrianne Pieczonka is primarily known for her vocally opulent and interpretively intense Richard Strauss and Richard Wagner opera performances– though her vocal and stylistic versatility enables her to be at home in dramatic operatic roles by Verdi, Puccini and others. Her first Delos release is constituted of a varied program of Richard Strauss and Wagner songs. Strauss created 158 lieder for soprano voice in total; many of the dozen heard here are among his true masterpieces. The opera specialist Wagner, on the other hand, wrote far fewer songs than Strauss. Best-known among them are the five ecstatically romantic Wesendonck-Lieder, a masterpiece among Lieder cycles. Accompanying Ms. Pieczonka is Brian Zeger, a pianist whose technical finesse and interpretive sensitivity mark him as one of the great collaborators of our time.

Stunning performances of the complete choral works (to date) of award-winning Composer Frank Ticheli, “one of the most interesting and attractive composers on the scene today” (Lawrence A. Johnson). This program offers many world premiere recordings and a broad variety of lovely and accessible choral compositions. The superb renditions by the Pacific Chorale with the Pacific Symphony or the John Alexander Singers are all under the assured baton of John Alexander.

These seldom-heard Schubert lieder- setting verses by German poets including Schiller and Goethe- reflect the Romantic era’s artistic obsession with the classical myths and literature of ancient Greece. The resulting songs and duets reveal levels of fantasy and nobility rarely found among Schubert’s nearly 700 lieder. As performed by renowned artists soprano Susanna Phillips, bass-baritone Shenyang, and pianist Brian Zeger, these memorable pieces will come as a revelation to lieder fans. Listeners who revisit the “lost world” of Greek antiquity in this recording will revel in its deep, three-dimensional splendor: the combined genius of Schubert, two legendary poets, and three marvelous musicians.

As the innovative, world-renowned guitarist Smaro Gregoriadou says in her notes for this stunning new recording, her fourth for Delos, its music offers “encouragement and hope,” and illuminates with “a different kind of light, a different sort of fire.” The program begins with her beautiful transcription of Bach’s beloved Solo Violin Sonata #2 and offers Britten’s fascinating Nocturnal, along with works by Gubaidulina and Hétu. As Raymond Tuttle put it, in a Fanfare review of one of Smaro’s earlier Delos releases, “Gregoriadou evokes musicians such as Vladimir Horowitz, Glenn Gould, and Wanda Landowska in her willingness to find a new way to express herself and to reanimate the music.”

REVIEW:

What is special about this recording is Gregoriadou’s focus on timbre. Her technique is exceptional, but it is always at the service of creating a sound world with a wide spectrum. Her dynamic shading in the last movement of the Hétu is astonishing, and it is so effortlessly achieved that you don’t think about technique as you listen. I don’t think of Gregoriadou as a guitarist. I think of her as a musician who happens to play the guitar. This is a very beautiful guitar recital, with recorded sound that makes it seem as if you are in the room with Gregoriadou, and at just the right distance for the best perspective.

-- Fanfare

Inna Faliks is a spellbinding Ukrainian-born pianist with a glowing international reputation. Her long-standing practice of alternating musical interludes with the spoken word takes the form here of narrative storytelling. And with this unique album - her first for Delos - Inna has a captivating, powerful and very moving tale to tell. Her story chronicles her life's path: her family's emigration to America, her seminal early influences and her evolution as an artist. And it's also her love story, as she is reunited as an adult with the childhood friend who is now her husband. Each episode of the pianist's saga - dramatically narrated by actress Rebecca Mozo - alternates with a beautifully played masterpiece that is closely connected to her life story from childhood onward. Music and words combine to spin a powerful and moving tale.

Bach’s famous and beloved Inventions and Sinfonias continue to captivate listeners, students and teachers today as they have throughout the generations. They are delightful discoveries playable by students of various ages and various stages of pianistic development, and provide an inexhaustible source of new ideas. Bach’s melodies sing, dance, and interact with each other and provide a path to understanding counterpoint, and specifically one of Bach’s favored forms, the fugue. These sparkling classics benefit from Paulina Zamora’s tender interpretations, as does the Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue. This is the third Delos album for the Chilean-American pianist, described by Gramophone as “a sincere and persuasive musician.”

Since its founding in 2003, the Poulenc Trio has established itself as one of the world’s finest ensembles in the lesser-known domain of double-reed chamber music. The Trio’s members are not only first-rate ensemble players but are also prominent virtuosos of their respective instruments. In the group’s second release on Delos, the idiomatic qualities of double-reed instruments are particularly well-served by the pair of trios by Francis Poulenc and Jean Francais. Both works are delightful models of spare neoclassical structure, spiced with piquant French flavors, lending the music an urbane and witty effect.

In contrast, the album offers winning arrangements of music by Dmitri Shostakovich and Giaocchino Rossini, topped off by an effervescent world-premiere piece, ‘Trains of Thought,’ from contemporary composer Viet Cuong, who originally conceived it as part of a multimedia work combining music and an animated film.

REVIEWS:

Since its founding in 2003, the Poulenc Trio has established itself as one of the world’s finest ensembles in the lesser-known domain of double-reed chamber music. On “Trains of Thought,” the qualities of these instruments are particularly well-served by the trios from Francis Poulenc and Jean Francais. The album also offers winning arrangements of music by Shostakovich and Rossini, topped off by a world-premiere piece from contemporary composer Viet Cuong, who originally conceived it as part of a multimedia work combining music and an animated film.

-- WFMT Chicago

There is musical fun a-plenty in the Françaix Trio, Wang managing to make his oboe positively laugh at one point in the first movement, with Young and Lande ready to follow suit. This is a bubbling, light-hearted work which, as with so much of Françaix’s writing for winds, masks an immense understanding of the potential of the individual instruments with music of such attractiveness and joviality that one forgets the enormous skill involved in bringing it all to life.

These are superbly performed works for oboe, bassoon and piano by the talented Poulenc Trio. I’m delighted to have the opportunity of adding this Delos recording to my chamber music collection.

-- MusicWeb International