Internationally acclaimed Swedish pianist Peter Jablonski is known as a fervent champion of Polish music. In this album Jablonski returns to some of his dearest piano music – Chopin’s Mazurkas. For Chopin, the Mazurkas became a deeply personal, intimate statement of his feelings as an émigré Polish composer living in Paris. From some of his very first compositions to his last, it is the only form that Chopin composed regularly throughout his life. Similarly, Chopin’s Mazurkas have followed Peter Jablonski throughout his entire career as a pianist in nearly every solo recital.

REVIEW:

Peter Jablonski is no stranger to Chopin’s Mazurkas, having recorded the Opp 6, 24, 50 and 68 groups in 2008. He’s now setting down the complete Chopin Mazurkas for Ondine.

This first volume reveals an authoritative, idiomatic, and individual stylist. He’s generally an epic, large-scale player who favors a wide range of dynamics and articulations. He can be yieldingly lyrical, yet he’s not afraid to get dirt underneath his fingernails.

He playfully inflects the cross-rhythmic phrases in the central section of the B flat Op 17 No 1. While he takes his time over the A minor Op 17 No 4’s decorative tracery, his grounded tempo is fluid and flexible.

Each of Op 30 No 2’s echoed phrases has its own character and color, words that succinctly describe Jablonski’s edgy way with No 3. The tension and release of No 4’s trills wouldn’t be out of place in Scriabin. Op 33 No 2 is not especially fast yet it still conveys boisterous lilt, and with very little sustain pedal for the most part. Jablonski’s effectively understated Op 33 No 3 sets the stage for a strikingly contrasted and personalised B minor No 4. An angular, questioning take on the short and swift B major Mazurka stands out in the well-played Op 41 group.

Needless to say, I look forward to this excellently engineered and annotated release’s follow-up volume.

-- Gramophone (Jed Distler)

“Ascenso is a collection of works that have, in one way or another, a direct connection to myself. I wanted to present an album that was a representation of my current self, not just as a cellist, but as an artist. My idea is that this is not a cellist’s recording, or an album centered around the instrument, but rather a work that is meant to be experienced as you would a painting on a wall, whatever that may mean to you.”

Santiago Cañón-Valencia has been praised as one of the most promising young cellists of his generation. Born in Bogota in 1995, his major musical mentors have been Henryk Zarzycki in Colombia, James Tennant in New Zealand, Andres Diaz in the United States and Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt at the Kronberg Academy in Germany.

– A 2022 BBC Next Generation Artist and Winner of the Silver Medal and “Audience Favorite”

– A major prize winner of the Sphinx, Casals, Johansen, Cassadó, and Adam cello competitions.

REVIEW:

What the charismatic virtuoso delivers is some attractive premieres. Ponce de León’s "La ruta de la mariposa" has a poignant transparency, and is exquisitely performed.

-- BBC Music Magazine

“I am really excited about our upcoming release of Aerial on Sono Luminus this year! The album was originally released in 2014 on Deutsche Grammophon and now the journey of the album continues with Sono Luminus in a remastered version by their very own Daniel Shores. The orchestra piece Aeriality is at the center of the album which also features Into Second Self, Ró, Tactility, Trajectories and Shades of Silence. It was quite a personal journey to record these pieces in Iceland, working with long time collaborators such as the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Caput Ensemble and Nordic Affect. It is such a joy to continue the collaboration with Sono Luminus that we have grown for many years now with releases of, now, all my portrait albums to date! The new release of Aerial will also feature percussion quartet Aura performed by the LA Percussion Quartet.” (Anna Þorvaldsdóttir)

REVIEW:

The Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir has emerged as one of the most talented Nordic composers in recent years. Her voice is quite different from that of other contemporary composers, and thankfully her orchestral music has become widely performed and recorded by the leading orchestras world-wide and acclaimed by reviewers and the musical public alike.

The opening work on this disc - Into-Second Self - is for seven brass instruments and percussion. It opens with rumbling, whistling effects as if we are in a dark threatening tunnel, creating an atmospheric roar of sound with the percussion generating what is like an ancient Celtic chant on the horns and trombones. This is heard in an unearthly harmony by evoking sounds of aircraft and loud thuds on the drums, a shimmering of bells becoming increasingly loud then settles into silence.

Written for flute, bass clarinet, piano, percussion, two violins, viola and cello, Rö, opens with a jangle on percussion and piano chords aided by the bass clarinet and the strings harmony. We hear sudden noises against the wind of the flute and bass clarinet with a hint of an idea on the wind against the loud disharmony on the percussion - all broken by a bagpipe-like noise and a twanging idea, all of which creates a world of mystery, yet is brought to a terrible halt with thuds on the keyboard before a slow descent into quiet.

Under the baton of Ilan Volkov, Aeriality opens with a loud chord from the orchestra offering exciting harmony, and the entry of the piano is heard against strings and woodwind babbling in a dynamic pulse - as if we are hearing the movement of great bodies in space, or on the earth - is this the cosmos? There is a constant flow of sound and dissonance with occasional noises and murmuring on the strings, growing steadily louder with roars from the brass and a shrill woodwind theme emerge together in a great potent idea leading to a low-pitched drone of noise against a twitter of woodwind invoking birds calling out in the wind, yet the sudden crashes on the percussion are like chains breaking against rocks then disappear into silence.

Tactility opens with a mysterious hovering sound on harp and percussion and a dull throbbing sound, yet the harp hints at Japanese music, interrupted by thuds on the drums, and a rustling sound pattering away in the background, then we hear the effect of the wind blowing against the window ending with an inflection on the harp.

Composed for piano and electronics, Trajectories opens with a stirring rise in noise and an enormous build in tension with chimes of momentous chords on the piano, lending the impression of ‘something trying to escape’, all in dreadful harmonies, dissonance and a ripple of piano chords repeated amid the chime of a clock, rippling and tapping on the keyboard and an all-powerful throbbing noise before suddenly dying away.

The composer uses an ensemble of baroque instruments for her Shades of Silence, which opens with high shrill notes on strings, creating an amazing acoustic effect enhanced by the pizzicato strings in rising and falling dissonance, of sharply brutal music on the harpsichord that strangely creates an almost magical effect.

Aura, the final piece here, written for four percussionists, starts with an eerie atmosphere of a strange whispering ringing on the percussion with a chiming xylophone and ringing tubular bells, creating an amazingly catatonic effect, against a rustling, loud throbbing noise ‘like whales in the sea.’ For anyone unaware of this young Icelandic composer, this disc will prove an enlightening experience, and can only whet one’s appetite for her more recent compositions. Thorvaldsdottir herself was responsible for the engineering on four of the seven recordings, adding another credit to her talents; the sound quality is splendidly ambient throughout.

-- MusicWeb International (Gregor Tassie)

Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli’s piano playing is highly praised for its tremendous reflectiveness. He could spend decades immersing himself in a piece in order to get to know it inside out. His art of touch, his wealth of overtones and his highly refined sense of sound are just as praiseworthy – qualities that came in especially useful for playing Chopin and Debussy. Michelangeli is, however, less known as a Mozart interpreter which makes these 1956 recordings with the orchestra of Süddeutscher Rundfunk conducted by Anton von Bavier so fascinating. Here, Michelangeli presents a life-affirming, even vigorous Mozart with almost Olympian pride. His manner of playing is always forward-pushing, at times boisterously passionate. In his interpretation there is no exaggerated sensitivity, no fiddling with sound, no over-reflectiveness and, in particular, no sentimentality in the slow movements.

REVIEW:

SWR has brought out Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli’s 1956 Ludwigsburg Festival Mozart K. 450 and 466 performances that ICA originally released back in 2013. Reviewing Michelangeli’s EMI 1950 studio recording of K. 450, I wrote how the pianist “subjects each phrase to finely-tuned gradations of touch and dynamic scaling, leaving not one note unscrutinized and unaccounted for.” That’s equally true here, albeit with faster tempos in the outer movements, plus additional vigor and continuity on the soloist’s part, and a better (if not particularly distinctive) orchestra.

Michelangeli’s astonishing command of the D minor concerto’s decorous figurations and strenuous left-hand broken octaves will keep most mortal pianists humble. If Michelangeli’s slow-movement dynamic taperings are decidedly “old-school” in the context of today’s leading Mozart practitioners, at least they’re not so caricatured as in his 1989 DG recording.

The slightly dry and drab-sounding SWR source tape seems to have been reproduced with relatively little intervention, in contrast to ICA’s boosted midrange and hint of added reverberation. Notwithstanding this release’s sonic and stylistic limitations, pianophiles will want to hear Michelangeli on prime form.

-- ClassicsToday.com (Jed Distler)

A unique recital on record, for a hauntingly beautiful instrumental combination, featuring several first recordings. The duo of trumpet and organ is a wellestablished one, having attracted composers from the early Baroque period onwards. The combination of flute and organ, while requiring careful balancing so that the organ does not overwhelm the flute, is no less attractive in its way, and has drawn from composers a more varied palette of expression. This new album is made by a duo of Piedmontese musicians who have explored the riches of the flute-and-organ repertoire to come up with a balanced selection of pieces written by 20th- and 21st-century composers on both sides of the Atlantic.

Duo Les Brumes begin with an undoubted masterpiece: the Sonata da Chiesa which the Swiss composer Frank Martin originally composed in 1939 for viola d'amore and organ. Because his Dutch wife Maria Boeke was an excellent flautist, he also produced a version for flute and organ in 1941. The sonata’s three sections enclose a sequence of gentle, neoclassical dance movements between two reflective slow movements. The album’s other substantial work is Ain Karim, a fantasia composed in 1995 by the Swiss
organist-composer Daniel Roth. Aïn Karim is the name of the place near Jerusalem where Mary, mother of Jesus, is thought to have visited her cousin Elisabeth and spoken the words of the ‘Magnificat’. Daniel Roth has taken part of this text ('He puts down the mighty from their seat and exalts the humble and meek') to emphasise the contrast between the ‘small’ flute and the ‘monumental’ organ. In between, Duo Les Brumes present a gallery of vividly coloured miniatures: a suite of Four Pieces composed in 1962 by the Austrian composer Augustin Franz Kropfreiter (1936-2003), within the same kind of ‘modern neoclassical’ vein as Martin’s Sonata da Chiesa; then Five Pieces by Jean Langlais, more extrovert in character. Two Canadian composers are also represented with the radiant, soaring Melodia by Denis Bédard and the Elegy by Michael Conway Baker.

After a life dedicated to music, especially of his hometown Dresden and Saxony, world-renown trumpeter Ludwig Güttler concludes his career around his 80th birthday in 2023. It is hard to overestimate his musical, political and social role in Dresden, but also the impact he had on musical research of the Saxonian court, the development of the Corno da Caccia and any other field he touched in his comprehensive life. This edition is devoted to the headline, the motto he found, that constitutes his firm belief: In all that I do, I am guided by the Lord's counsel. he who can accomplish all and owns all, in all things He must, if they are to succeed, give me advice and counsel. The album features not only a meaningful selection of his extensive catalogue but also 5 completely new recordings from the world-famous Dresden Frauenkirche, in which rebuilding he partook such a vital role. It is therefore logical that the DVD features - for the first time on a physical medium - the festive Gala Concert for the Inauguration of this very house of God, where he leads his own Virtuosi Saxoniae and the Vocal Ensemble Saxony in Hasse's "Ultima" Mass.

Highpoints of virtuosity in Bach’s output and the Baroque organ repertoire, in new recordings by an organist with a rich catalogue of success on Brilliant Classics to his credit. As well as a host of obscure composers, Manuel Tomadin has recorded many central figures in the organ repertoire, from Buxtehude to Rheinberger. His Bach discography includes the Leipziger Choräle, BWV 651-667 (94556) and an original ‘Harmonic Seasons’ album (95786) pairing preludes and fugues with chorales that tell a story of rebirth and quiescence through the four seasons. For his latest album, he turns to undisputed highlights of the repertoire: the collection of six sonatas in three parts which Bach compiled in the late 1720s. By then he had settled into his post as Capellmeister in Leipzig, and with this set of works was evidently aiming to leave his contribution to the already rich literature of trio sonatas which had originated some decades earlier in Italy and subsequently spread across Europe, as a means of crossing sacred and secular divides with music conceived for performance by either a single keyboard player or a chamber group of musicians Being Bach, however, he determined to produce not merely another volume in the library. While he drew the material for the trio sonatas from earlier pieces, he refined and adapted them with all the ingenuity and harmonic invention at his disposal, making the finished set among the most demanding pieces ever written for the organ, then or now. The trio sonatas are accordingly often performed by a trio of chamber musicians, but there is a special freshness and virtuosity to be savoured when they are played, as here and as originally intended, by a single organist. As Manuel Tomadin notes in his valuable booklet introduction, the six sonatas run the gamut of expressive feeling, from a gravity of pathos in the central Largo of the C minor Sonata No.2 to the irrepressible joy of the finale to the C major No.5. He has made these new recordings on an instrument with an excellent Bachian pedigree: the Bosch/Schnitger organ (1686/1720) of the Hervormde church in the Dutch town of Vollenhove, and the booklet includes a full specification for the instrument.

When Handel composed his Judas Maccabaeus in 1746 he had brought to an end his activity for the (Italian) opera in London and begun a second career as an oratorio composer, which at first got off to a very successful start but then soon experienced a decline, for which there had been various causes. Judas Maccabaeus is the evidence that Handle had recovered from this setback, and to this day the work is considered one of his most successful. Rafael Kubelík relies, without ifs and buts, on the Handel Edition by the North German musical scholar Friedrich Chrysander that appeared in the second half of the 19th century and represents a monument of the scholarly musical historicism that probably could appear only in Germany and not in England, Handel’s artistic home. Apart from the old-fashioned German translation, most astonishing is the drastic cuts that Chrysander made. This historical live recording from 1963 presents Fritz Wunderlich as Judas together with Agnes Giebel, Julia Falk, Naan Pöld and Ludwig Welter.

The Handel and Haydn Society celebrates Haydn with a dazzling pairing of two of the composer’s masterpieces. In one of his final performances as Artistic Director of the Society, Harry Christophers leads the ensemble and a stellar cast of soloists in Haydn’s monumental ‘Theresienmesse’ (Mass in B-flat major - Hob.XXII:12) and his Symphony No. 103 in E-flat major (Hob.I:103) the ‘Drumroll’ - one of Haydn’s twelve ‘London’ symphonies composed between 1791 and 1795 when London was the indisputable musical capital of Europe. “This chorus is consistently excellent, but something had lit a special fire under them...Of the “Theresienmesse” the chorus and orchestra made a brilliant tapestry.” (Boston Globe)

The Lights Are Always On is pianist/composer Lynne Arriale’s 16th album as leader, and her third recording on Challenge Records International. Lynne’s original music is a suite of compositions that reflect the world-wide, life-changing events of the past two years. On this session Lynne is joined by bassist/co-producer Jasper Somsen and drummer E.J. Strickland, both outstanding, in-demand musicians on the international jazz scene.

Lynne’s ten original, highly evocative compositions begin with the persistent Afro-Cuban influenced “March On,” a tribute to activists worldwide. “The Lights Are Always On” features a lyrical melody in perpetual motion; the foundation of a thematic arc that soars over the entire piece. It is followed by the jubilant, gospel-influenced “Sisters.” Lynne’s dedication to Lt. Colonel Alexander Vindman, “Honor,” is the melding of two engaging melodic ideas; each reinforcing the other. Together they convey the heroic character and unwavering strength of this American patriot. “Loved Ones” expresses joyful appreciation for those who are precious to us. The set continues with “Sounds Like America,” where Lynne creates an optimistic melody and solo, culminating in a celebratory chordal finish.

“The Notorious RBG,” is an exuberant dedication to Ruth Bader Ginsburg, assertively propelled by drummer E.J. Strickland. Following that, Lynne and Jasper deftly navigate the angular harmonic construction of “Into the Breach,” Lynne’s ominous remembrance of the January 6th Insurrection and the heroes that saved democracy on that day. “Walk in My Shoes,” a dedication to civil rights icon John Lewis, reflects the tenacity and strength of this remarkable leader. Lynne begins her solo with two motivic statements, which she skillfully integrates into a cohesive, powerful performance. The album concludes with “Heroes”, a heartfelt ballad composed in recognition of those who enlightened a very dark period in our history, and who embody the greatest humanistic virtues of mankind.

REVIEWS:

This is an album that is drawing on a lot of important messages of solidarity, of resistance, of hope, of joy, and it’s absolutely exquisite… a gorgeous sense of space and melody... This album emotionally, feels very necessary right now… outstanding!

-- A Closer Listen, Jazz at Lincoln Center (Seton Hawkins)

Her last two albums especially reveal how her vision, insight and passion cohere with her sense of being a fellow human and citizen in America, and of the world in very troubled times. Emotional and musical eloquence radiate from her playing with heartfelt ardor and honesty, and focused intensity. We are hearing a sort of heroism at work, her generous spirit and commitment, her exquisitely pointed and expansive testimonies.

-- Culture Currents (Kevin Lynch)

Arriale has great emotional pull, and there are whirlpools and whirlwinds in her playing. There is this pattern in Arriale where she begins with darkness, then everything is bathed in light. This is a strong recording, about strength. She has succeeded in putting us in the hero’s shoes, the light of the powerful mind pushing on through protests, and making change. And she has succeeded in putting us back in our shoes, with this invested strength to go on and change.

-- The Flash Boston (Sofia Marshall)

Once again, Ensemble Aventure presents a jewel of new music that has so far been little known in Europe within its series of works by Latin American composers on WERGO: "Flores blancas", chamber and ensemble music by the Argentine composer Mariano Etkin. Listeners are captivated by the raw power of “La naturaleza de las cosas”, the title of which is an apt characterization of Mariano Etkin’s compositional language, which is a celebration of the sensuous nature of sounds and of the human senses as a source of knowledge without illusions, realized with a small number of “sound objects” that appear and fade away with a sense of both beauty and pain. Each of the eight works (from 1992 to 2016, Etkin’s late compositional period) on this recording focuses in its own way on the physicality of sounds and the foundations of human existence.

In his last years, Etkin’s musical language became more densely lyrical, introspective, and focused on fundamental elements of human existence such as dreams (“Sueños olvidados”) or blood (“Le sangre del cuerpo”) and, above all, tears (“Estudios para lágrimas”). Mariano Etkin creates authentic crystals of intensity – an unflinchingly existential music that looks into the eye of darkness, but nevertheless spreads its wings. It sings, throbs, and shivers with excitement before dissolving in pain and beauty.

Born in 1972, Albert Schnelzer belongs to the most widely noticed Scandinavian composers of his generation. He has written in all genres, and the present album includes a concerto as well as both orchestral and chamber works. Schnelzer’s orchestral output has attracted great attention, with A Freak in Burbank belonging to his most often heard works. Inspired by Haydn as well as by the filmmaker Tim Burton, it has been played more than 70 times to date, in venues such as the Berlin Philharmonie, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and the Royal Albert Hall. It here appears on album for the first time, performed by the Västerås Sinfonietta conducted by Simon Crawford-Phillips. The same team has also made the premiere recordings of two other works: Burn My Letters – a commission for Clara Schumann’s 200th anniversary – and the violin concerto ‘Nocturnal Songs’, composed for Ilya Gringolts. Interspersed with these are three chamber works – Dance with the Devil, Apollonian Dances and Frozen Landscape – performed by some of Sweden’s foremost instrumentalists.

REVIEW:

A Freak in Burbank is an exciting and vivid work, full of insistent rhythms, quixotic harmonies, and colorful orchestration. There is a capricious spirit in it that grabs the attention of the listener, much as, for example, Haydn’s music does.

Dance with the Devil is for solo piano, and also grabs the attention of the listener from its very first notes. The opening, in fact, is cut from the same musical cloth as is Bartók’s Allegro Barbaro, and like that seminal work Dance never lets up in its energy level. The notes aver that the piece is influenced by heavy metal music.

Burn My Letters—Remembering Clara is scored for chamber orchestra and depicts in music the voluminous correspondence between Clara Schumann and Johannes Brahms. In this rather neo-Romantic work, the composer has attempted to capture something of the energy and lust for life of Clara Schumann, in addition to representing the hectic life she lived as a touring pianist. In this work, he has attempted to assimilate (successfully, I think) the frankness in which Schumann writes about her doubts, fears, and sorrows. Despite such heavy concepts, the piece has a lightness and airy quality about it that I find most attractive.

The program turns back to the realm of chamber music with Apollonian Dances for violin and piano. Violinist Cecilia Zilliacus and pianist David Huang are both clearly masters of their respective instruments, and the work simply couldn’t be in better hands.

Frozen Landscape remembers a vivid experience from Schnelzer’s youth when he was up in the mountains of northern Sweden. This piece’s unrelenting quiet dynamic level sustains interest throughout its seven-and-a-half-minute duration. Both cellist Jakob Koranyi and pianist Huang pull off exquisitely what must be a difficult work to bring across.

The concert concludes with Schnelzer’s Violin Concerto No. 2, “Nocturnal Songs,” a 25-minute work from 2018.

The work was written for violinist Ilya Gringolts, who performs it at the highest level here, even the finger-busting finale. First-class orchestral support is supplied in the pieces that require it by Simon Crawford-Phillips and the Västerås Sinfonietta, an ensemble of which I’ve been previously unaware but glad to have become acquainted with.

This CD is splendid in every parameter, and I am truly delighted to become familiar with the work of such a talented member of the newer generation of Swedish composers.

-- Fanfare

An unobtrusive figure in the British music scene and despite her self-stated lack of ambition, KATHLEEN LONG (1896–1968) was a musician of the highest order. She taught for 44 years at the Royal College of Music and was a major Decca artist for two decades, having recorded for several other labels before that. Her first recording was made in 1928, and her first Decca recordings (of Mozart’s Piano Concertos K449 and K450) were made in 1935. Her first Decca solo recordings are those on this release. On disc, she made premiere recordings of several Mozart concertos and sonatas and was renowned for her Scarlatti and Fauré. For her service to French music, she was made Honorary Member of the Académie de France.

Following her critically acclaimed recording of Mozart Concertos with Sir Roger Norrington and the RSNO, Francesca Dego turns to a selection of his Sonatas with her long-term recital partner Francesca Leonardi. Dego commented ‘Francesca and I have been playing together for seventeen years, more than half my life and the totality of my career. To work as a duo on a regular basis means reaching common interpretative solutions, ones that sum up each player’s qualities, and creates a great sense of mutual responsibility. What you do together somehow feels naturally complete. We decided to build this album around our very favorite Sonata, KV 454 in B flat major, which we had been performing for many years and in which Mozart’s simplicity and flamboyance coexist in perfect harmony.’

REVIEWS:

Charlie Siem returns with a new recording of Violin Sonatas, accompanied by his regular recital partner Itamar Golan – featuring Vaughan Williams' Violin Sonata in A Minor and Grieg's Violin Sonata No. 2 in G Major, Op. 13. Charlie Siem is one of today’s foremost young violinists, with such a wide-ranging diversity of cross-cultural appeal as to have played a large part in defining what it means to be a true artist of the 21st century. Siem has appeared with many of the world’s finest orchestras and chamber ensembles, including the Bergen Philharmonic, Camerata Salzburg, Czech National Symphony, Israel Philharmonic, London Symphony, Moscow Philharmonic, Oslo Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic, and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He has worked with top conductors such as Charles Dutoit, Edward Gardner, Zubin Mehta, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Sir Roger Norrington, Libor Pešek and Yuri Simonov. International festival appearances to date include Spoleto, St. Moritz, Gstaad, Bergen, Tine@Munch, Festival Internacional de Santa Lucía, and the Windsor Festival.