The Ukrainian composer Thomas De Hartmann (1885-1956) had undertaken a classic musical training with Anton Arensky and then Nikolai Taneyev before the death of his mother in 1912 prompted him to begin searching for a spiritual teacher. Four years later he made the encounter that would change his life, with the Armenian philosopher and mystic George Gurdjieff (1877-1949). Gurdjieff had his own musical training, as well as a sharp ear and retentive memory for the folk melodies which he heard on his long travels through central Asia and the middle East. De Hartmann and his wife joined Gurdjieff’s circle of followers, and the two men began to write music to accompany their spiritual exercises. This body of music eventually amounted to around 300 short pieces, of which the indefatigable Jeroen van Veen has recorded the entire published corpus of 170 divided into four volumes.

During lockdown, Jeroen van Veen found himself with the time to immerse himself in this music, which ranges across Asian, Arabic and European systems of rhythm, harmony and tuning, so that he could capture its perfumed mysticism and improvisational character. There are solemn hymns of an Orthodox nobility, atmospheric tone poems such as the ‘Night Procession’, freely pianistic transcriptions of melodies from early-Christian sects such as the Essenes, modal-pentatonic melodies to accompany a ‘Sacred Reading from the Koran’ and to aid an awakening of consciousness in an elevated state of awareness, and then pieces simply titled after their date of composition. While overall meditative in mood, there is a tremendous variety to the Gurdjieff/De Hartmann collection, and Jeroen van Veen’s new recording is an ideally comprehensive way to dive into its riches.

REVIEW:

One can approach these pieces as being parallel to the Magyar folk music that Bartók and Kodály collected in the early 20th century and used as a basis for their own music, except that for the most part Gurdjieff and de Hartmann tried to keep the tunes intact as they stood and didn’t try to develop them in a standard Western classical manner.

Taken a few pieces at a time, the music isn’t bad to listen to, but prolonged exposure to the whole six CDs can bore the more imaginative listener. Despite the intriguing Eastern harmonies, the music is repetitive and tiresome. This is not van Veen’s fault; he is a splendid pianist who plays the slow pieces with great atmosphere and the quicker ones with a lively rhythm; he does his best to engage your interest, and there are certainly some very cute and interesting pieces in this collection, but the lack of any development and the unvarying rhythm of each piece eventually take their toll on the listener. If there is such a thing as high quality background music, this is it. I would also recommend this music in the main as an aid to meditation so long as you realize that every so often there are upbeat numbers in the set and this may spoil your getting deeper into yourself (CD 2 has the most uptempo music).

Of course, the real value of this set is to give a pianist, professional or amateur, who may wish to play some of these pieces the chance to hear them performed. There are other recordings out there of some of this repertoire, but having it all in one place is clearly helpful. A second pianist, Daff by Van Veen, plays with Jeroen on nine numbers if Series II of the Asian Songs and Rhythms, five pieces in Music of the Sayyids and Dervishes First Series, and a few other pieces thereafter.

-- The Art Music Lounge (Lynn René Bayley)

Until the end of the Ancien Régime, one of the main activities of composers – and one of their chief means of subsistence – was that of maître de chapelle or Kapellmeister, directing the music performed at religious services attended by the princely families who employed them. Although this mostly concerned ordinary occasions, sometimes even on a daily basis, such composers also had to provide music tailored for specific and sometimes unexpected events, such as a military victory that had to be celebrated by a Te Deum or, more sadly, the death of a sovereign. For this five-album set, Alpha Classics has assembled eight requiems, from Antoine de Févin’s Mass of the Dead for Anne of Brittany to Luigi Cherubini’s Mass for the return to France of the remains of Louis XVI.

Antonín Dvorák needs no introduction – neither in his homeland nor anywhere else in the world. But how widely known are his piano works? The Piano Concerto in G minor has recently enjoyed a degree of revived interest, yet Dvorák’s pieces for solo piano are in the main an unexplored landscape even for many pianists and musicologists. More’s the pity! They do not possess Chopin’s sway and finely nuanced emotionality, or Liszt’s ostentatious virtuosity. Just as he did in his entire oeuvre, in his piano works Dvorák eschewed flashiness, focusing instead on tender intimate lyricism, teeming with ideas, and shaping even his miniatures with the sensibility of a genius. Such music is certainly worthy of a new complete recording. The challenge was undertaken by Ivo Kahánek, an artist whose recording of Dvorák’s difficult Piano Concerto made with the Bamberger Symphoniker conducted by Jakub Hruša has deservedly gained critical acclaim and even won the coveted BBC Music Magazine Concerto Award. The present 4-album set encompasses cycles (Silhouettes, Poetic Moods and the Suite in A major, composed in the US, which Dvorák himself valued greatly), occasional pieces, as well as several little-known works, recorded for the very first time. One such is the polka Forget-me-not, Dvorák’s first surviving miniature, written when he was 14 years of age. The recording of piano works provides yet another precious insight into the abundant world of the composer’s soul. Dvorák’s rich inner world expressed through the piano.

Following the success of 100 Christmas Classics (Capriccio C7331) comes Christmas Meditation, featuring 100 choral and vocal works from across the centuries. The set encompasses sacred Renaissance treasures including Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and Bach/Gounod’s Ave Maria, Handel’s Baroque masterpiece Messiah (‘He shall feed his flock’) and classic Christmas carols such as It Came Upon A Midnight Clear by Richard Storrs Willis and Franz Xaver Gruber’s Stille Nacht (‘Silent Night’). Featuring some of the most renowned choral institutions, Christmas Meditation offers listeners a classical Christmas to remember.

REVIEWS:

A rather sumptuous collection of seasonal choral works, instrumental pieces and carols. --BBC Music Magazine

After the success of the 5 CD box “100 Christmas classics” (Capriccio C7331), the new 5 CD box “Christmas Meditation” contains 100 choral and instrumental works from past centuries. It contains works from 43(!) composers, including excerpts from Bach's Christmas Oratorio, Bach/Gounod's Ave Maria, Handel's Baroque masterpiece Messiah, and traditional and classical carols such as "It Came Upon A Midnight Clear" by American composer Richard Storrs Willis, and Franz Xaver Gruber's "Silent Night”. With some of the most renowned choirs, “Christmas Meditation” offers you an unforgettable Christmas.

In addition to world-famous Christmas music, in this box you will also discover previously unknown but no less beautiful work by Bruch, Rheinberger, Carl Neuner, Wagenseil, Robert Fuchs, Johann Philipp Reichert or Johann von Herbeck. Cannot be missed!

--Stretto

Boris Giltburg is lauded worldwide as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling interpreter, with critics praising his impassioned approach to performance. This project to record all of Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas is a personal exploration for Giltburg, driven by curiosity and his profound respect for the composer. These exceptional performances received widespread critical acclaim upon their original digital release and this premiere release includes extended personal and informative booklet notes written by the pianist. From the vivid energy of the early sonatas, through the dark passions and enchanted lyricism of Beethoven’s middle period, to the awe-inspiring transcendence of the final sonatas – this cycle runs the full gamut of human emotion.

At home in repertoire ranging from Beethoven to Shostakovich, in recent years he has been increasingly recognized as a leading interpreter of Rachmaninoff. He is recording the complete Beethoven piano concertos for Naxos with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic (RLPO) and Vasily Petrenko. In 2018 he won Best Soloist Recording (20th/21st century) at the inaugural Opus Klassik Awards for his Naxos recording of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Carlos Miguel Prieto, coupled with the Études-Tableaux.

Past praise for previously released performances included in this set (digital video format only):

Beethoven: 32 Piano Sonatas, Vol. 3, Nos. 8-11

In keeping with the character of both the Op 14 Sonatas, Giltburg’s approach is prevailingly lyrical. For me, the two standouts of the series thus far are Opp 13 and 22. I can think of no other performance of the Pathétique that imbues the Grave introduction with a greater sense of melancholy desolation. The bright, ingratiating Op 22 is also brimful of character, its narrative unfolding with a charming urgency.

– Gramophone

Beethoven: 32 Piano Sonatas, Vol. 8, Nos 27-29

These interpretations are enormously pleasurable and at times revelatory. Always clean and never showy, Giltburg’s pianism is ideally suited to late Beethoven, and his touch throughout is light and flexible. His Hammerklavier lacks fury at the outset but magnificently makes up for that in the closing fugue, where his easy control of the tumult of voices is impressive.

– BBC Music Magazine

Celebrating the 130th anniversary of Sergei Prokofiev (1891 - 1953), the present box set brings together recordings of his seven symphonies made by Andrew Litton and the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra between 2012 and 2017. Released on separate discs, the series has received acclaim from international reviewers, variously highlighting the orchestra ('Bergen Philharmonic plays gorgeously... ', ClassicsToday. Com), the conductor ('It is clear that Litton has a deep understanding of Prokofiev's complex, protean style... ', MusicWeb-International) and the recordings themselves ('BIS's blockbuster sound... ', Fanfare). The symphonies appear with their original couplings, including the popular suites from the film score to Lieutenant Kijé and the ballet The Love for Three Oranges. As an added bonus, the set includes the team's very first recording for BIS: an innovative and highly praised version of Prokofiev's three suites from Romeo and Juliet, with the 20 movements reordered to follow the ballet score.

Excerpts of reviews from previously released volumes included in this set:

Prokofiev: Symphonies Nos. 1-3

In sum these performances, engineered with warmth, clarity and impact, rank with best; and having all three symphonies on a single disc makes this release something of a bargain as well–even at full price.

– ClassicsToday.com (10/10; David Hurwitz)

This is a perfect disc; absolutely everything goes right. The revised, enlarged version of the Fourth Symphony can sound bloated and too long for its material. This performance, by contrast, has passion, color, and drive aplenty. Especially in the outer movements, you’d never know that the leaner, meaner first version exists, and no praise can be higher than that.

The Seventh has always been, for me at least, a better work than many commentators allow. It contains, for example, one of Prokofiev’s best lyrical melodies in its first movement and finale. The waltz-like scherzo is wholly delightful, the slow third movement touching. Prokofiev often indulges a deliberate simplicity, and Litton takes him at his word, never for a moment lapsing into artifice or affectation.

The finale, which we get to hear twice complete, once with each of its endings, is particularly breezy and exhilarating. Through it all the Bergen Philharmonic plays gorgeously, and the SACD sonics are state-of-the-art. A wonderful release.

– ClassicsToday.com (10/10; David Hurwitz)

These recordings of Balakirev’s complete solo piano works by the much-lauded pianist Nicholas Walker have been hailed as ‘the reference set’ by the American Record Guide. Originally released between 2013 and 2020, these critically acclaimed performances are now collected together for the first time in a 6 album box set. Includes world premiere recordings. Hailed by the London Evening Standard as a 'prodigy, of awesome technical fluency backed by exceptional artistry', Nicholas Walker possesses a rare combination of talents combining sensitivity with 'the flair of a full scale virtuoso and a sparkling intelligence' (BBC Music Magazine). Nicholas Walker teaches at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he devised the celebrated keyboard skills course, the advanced level of which not only helps students to be proficient in all aspects of practical musicianship, but offers them the chance to learn how to improvise in various forms, such as minuets, variations, sonatinas and Mozart-type cadenzas, in addition to devising and performing a virtuoso transcription of their own.

CONTENTS:

• Balakirev: Piano Sonata in B flat minor
• Balakirev: Piano Sonata No. 1 in B flat minor, Op. 5
• Balakirev: Piano Sonata in B flat minor, Op. 3 'Grand Sonata'
• Balakirev: Waltz No. 1 in G - Valse di Bravura
• Balakirev: Nocturne No. 1 in B flat minor
• Balakirev: Waltz No. 2 in F minor
• Balakirev: Waltz No. 3 in D - Valse Impromptu
• Balakirev: Nocturne No. 2 in B minor
• Balakirev: Waltz No.4 in B flat
• Balakirev: Nocturne No. 3 in D minor
• Balakirev: Waltz No. 5 in D flat major
• Balakirev: Nocturne in G sharp minor (early version of Nocturne No. 1)
• Balakirev: Fantasiestuck
• Balakirev: Chant du pêcheur
• Balakirev: Waltz No. 7 in G sharp minor
• Balakirev: Mazurka No. 1 in A Flat
• Balakirev: Mazurka No. 2 in C sharp minor
• Balakirev: Sonatina (Esquisses) in G
• Balakirev: Berceuse
• Balakirev: Mazurka No. 3 in B minor
• Balakirev: Mazurka No. 4 in G flat minor
• Balakirev: Dumka
• Balakirev: Mazurka No. 5 in D
• Balakirev: Rêverie in F major
• Balakirev: Mazurka No. 6 in A Flat
• Balakirev: Piece in F sharp minor
• Balakirev: Mazurka No. 7 in E flat minor
• Balakirev: Capriccio
• Balakirev: Scherzo No. 1 in B minor
• Balakirev: Novelette
• Balakirev: Pustinya
• Balakirev: Scherzo No. 2 in B flat minor
• Balakirev: Fandango-Etude
• Balakirev: Spanish Serenade
• Balakirev: Caprice Brilliant Sur La Jota Aragonesa
• Berlioz: L'Enfance du Christ, Op. 25: La fuite en Egypte - Overture
• Balakirev: Scherzo No. 3 for Piano in F sharp major
• Balakirev: Spanish Melody
• Taneyev, S: Valse-Caprice No. 1 in A flat
• Taneyev, S: Valse-Caprice No. 2 in D flat major
• Glinka: Ivan Susanin (A Life for the Tsar): Overture
• Glinka: Ruslan and Lyudmila: Chernamor's March
• Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 1 - Romanza (transc Balakirev)
• Balakirev: Impromptu on the themes of two Preludes by Chopin
• Chopin: Scherzo No. 2 in B flat minor, Op. 31
• Liszt: Mazurka brillante, S221
• Beethoven: String Quartet No. 8 in E minor, Op. 59 No. 2: Allegretto
• Beethoven: String Quartet No. 13 in B flat major, Op. 130: Cavatina
• Balakirev: Gondellied
• Balakirev: Tarantelle in B
• Balakirev: Polonaise Brillante
• Balakirev: La fileuse
• Balakirev: Au Jardin
• Glinka: Kamarinskaya
• Balakirev: Symphonic Poem 'Tamara'
• Balakirev: Polka in F sharp minor
• Balakirev: Elegy on the Death of a Mosquito
• Balakirev: La Danse De Sorcières (Witches Dance)
• Glinka: Ne Govori: Lyubov' Proydyot (Do Not Say: Love Passes Away)
• Balakirev: Tyrolienne
• Zapol'sky: Reverie
• Balakirev: Toccata
• Balakirev: The Lark
• Balakirev: Islamey - Oriental Fantasy

Past praise of previously released volumes included in this set:

Balakirev: Complete Piano Works Vol 1

Walker presents the works in reverse chronological order, thereby giving us the best and best-known work first. It is a masterly performance, fully on a par with or exceeding ones I have reviewed in recent years: Hinrose (Mirare 181, Nov/Dec 2012), Driver (Hyperion 67806, July/Aug 2011), and Hellaby (Cameo 2081, Sept/Oct 2009). Besides Kentner’s great recording (Naxos 111223, not available in US), I also enjoy Earl Wild’s (Ivory 73005, May/June 2004). Walker finds inner voices and emphasizes some different aspects of the harmony and form, making for a new and well thought out interpretation. He has the full technical capability to handle all of the demands of this score

– American Record Guide

Balakirev: Complete Piano Works Vol 3

This third volume of Balakirev’s complete piano works is built around his seven Mazurkas, joyous and colourful pieces with an unmistakable Slavic tone. This series continues to establish Walker as the new reference for Balakirev’s music.

– Musiq3

Balakirev: Complete Piano Works Vol 5

This one is particularly fascinating for transcription junkies, beginning with the spectacular (and spectacularly difficult) Reminiscences on Glinka’s A Life for the Czar, famous from Earl Wild’s 1969 recording. Walker is quite his equal—and that is saying something—and is also beautifully recorded in a realistic, sympathetic acoustic. Indeed, Walker’s playing throughout this absorbing disc is a pleasure to hear, with a sophisticated tonal palette and eschewing any superficial virtuosity: ‘bravura with integrity’ is how I would describe it. Why don’t we hear more of him?

–Gramophone

After a boxed set devoted to nineteenth-century French music (Alpha, 2015) and another containing Beethoven’s symphonies and overtures (Alpha, 2018), Jos Van Immerseel and his period-instrument ensemble Anima Eterna present an anthology of seven albums including recordings of major nineteenth- and twentieth-century composers of many nationalities. Whether it is Liszt with his symphonic poems, Orff with his Carmina Burana or Gershwin with his Rhapsody in Blue, all of them seem to be driven by a deep-seated urge to push back the formal limits of orchestral music by confronting it with other traditions and musical horizons, thus giving it a universal resonance.

In 1984, just as the long-playing gramophone record was supposedly fading into the sunset, the British record company EMI issued an 8-LP box in green livery compiled by Keith Hardwick and entitled “Schumann & Brahms Lieder on Record 1901-1952”. That was the year after the introduction of the Compact Disc, which was expected to deliver the coup de grâce to the vinyl record introduced in 1948. Fast forward to today: LPs are still around, so are CDs, but EMI as the world’s oldest and once greatest recorded music organization is no more – its heirs and successors are the majors Warner and Universal. Be that as it may, the English company has won eternal honor for its invaluable service to music in preserving historic vocal documents in such painstakingly edited sets as “The Record of Singing” or indeed “… Lieder on Record” (RLS 1547003). However, the Schumann-Brahms box was not available “overseas” – in countries outside Great Britain, that is – save for brief periods and in homeopathic quantities, and then only as an import. Hänssler Classic and editor Dieter Fuoss are now closing the gap, initially with the part devoted to Robert Schumann (born June 8, 1810, Zwickau – died July 29, 1856, Endenich on the outskirts of Bonn). He fills the first three albums with “Lieder in historic recordings”. A fourth album completes the set with three song cycles by Schumann in legendary interpretations.

REVIEWS:

The Profil series Lieder on Record has had a new addition. Volume 2 with songs by Robert Schumann has been released. If you want to find out how important Schumann interpreters have performed his songs, you can’t miss this box. The songs are heard in historic recordings made between 1901 and 1951. The performers include Lotte and Lili Lehmann, Friedrich Schorr, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Victoria de los Angeles, Leo Slezak, Feodor Schaljapin, Richard Tauber, Elisabeth Schumann, Karl Erb, Willi Domgraf-Fassbaender, Frida Leider, Hans Hotter, Elisabeth Höngen, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and many others.  

-- Pizzicato

This set is a treasure trove for anyone who would like to hear dozens of singers from the first half of the 20th Century sing songs of Robert Schumann. It shows how performance style evolved in that time, including interpretive liberties taken. It offers a chance to hear dozens of voices, many I’ve never heard—or even heard of—before. You get to hear how different singers perform some of the same songs.

This set will appeal mainly to people interested in hearing how people of the first half of last century approached lieder. Some of them are very good, others are terrible. Many of the singers are hardly remembered today, and the liner notes tell us little about them. The liner notes give only general background information. As you would expect, texts and translations are not supplied.

-- American Record Guide

In this recording entitled Enigma Fortuna, the ensemble La Fonte Musica, directed by Michele Pasotti, aims to shed light on the mysterious and eccentric personality of Antonio Zacara da Teramo (1355-1416). A contemporary of Boccaccio, Donatello and Brunelleschi, this composer from the Abruzzi region could almost be likened to a sort of musical Hieronymus Bosch, for the texts he set to music conjure up a ‘topsy-turvy universe’ where the obscene, the imaginary and the grotesque go hand in hand. In his ballata Amor ne tossa he writes ‘Let him understand me who can, for I understand myself’, foreshadowing the proud egotism of the Romantic artists who were to come 400 years after him. With this four-album set presenting the world premiere of Zacara’s complete works, La Fonte Musica offers us an initial approach to understanding his music. And thereby, through the timeless character of art, to understanding a so-called ‘renascent’ era that seems as ‘topsy-turvy’ as our own.

Without any doubt this session of the Queen Elisabeth Piano Competition 2021 will stay fixed in our memories. In spite of the constraints imposed by the health crisis (absence of the public, number of semi-finalists and finalists reduced by half), 58 candidates presented themselves to play before the members of the jury. The media maintained exceptional visibility at the competition right from the first round (television, radio, internet and social media) and the audiences confirmed an ever growing passion for the Competition. In this 4 album-box set you will find the 6 laureates of this session, that saw the Frenchman Jonathan Fournel win First Prize; you can enjoy his performance in Brahms’ Second Concerto with the Belgian National Orchestra conducted by Hugh Wolff, as well as the whole of his recital in the semi-finale. The Russian Sergei Redkin, second laureate, is present in the Third Concerto of Rachmaninov as well as the set piece by Bruno Mantovani. Two concertos by Mozart with the Orchestre de Chambre de Wallonie conducted by Frank Braley are also on the programme: No. 23 (KV 488) by Vitaly Stakirov (5th Prize) and the No. 27 (KV 595) with the Japanese Keigo Mugawa (3rd Prize). Chamber music is also well represented, revealing notably Tomoki Sakata (4th Prize) in the Liszt Sonata and Dmitry Sin in Schumann’s Concerto without orchestra. These artistes, all of them exceptional pianists, who tomorrow perhaps will appear on the world’s leading concert platforms, can be discovered here in their first ever recordings.

Anton Bruckner is a composer with an unmistakable musical language: darkly glowing, overwhelmingly beautiful, but also energetic and innovative. For the Berliner Philharmoniker, this music has been part of their artistic identity for over a hundred years. The orchestra now presents Bruckner's symphonies in an exclusive edition, recorded over the last ten years together with some of the foremost Bruckner interpreters of our time. The Berliner Philharmoniker is a German orchestra based in Berlin which is consistently ranked among the top orchestras in the world, distinguished amongst peers for it's virtuosity and compelling sound.

Orfeo honors Júlia Várady as one of the most important sopranos of the second half of the 20th century with the release of this 10 album boxed set ‘The Orfeo Recordings’ on the occasion of her 80th Anniversary on 1st September 2021.

A significant number of opera lovers and connoisseurs maintain that Maria Callas’ mantle ought to have passed to Júlia Várady, and that the (now eighty-year-old) Romanian-Hungarian-German soprano actually should, in her day, have ascended the international throne of the prima donna assoluta. But as it is said, her loyalty to her two musical homes, the Bavarian State Opera and the Deutsche Oper Berlin, prevented this. Nonetheless, she made guest appearances at all the world’s major opera theaters – but she was apparently not available to the market as unrestrictedly and ubiquitously as would have been necessary for her image, in order for her to be enthroned as the Várady (as the legitimate successor of the Callas). In addition to her loyalty to the two aforementioned opera houses, another reason seemed to be a natural modesty that prevented her from constantly drawing attention to herself (with a reputation, for example, of being the “difficult one,“ or even with scandals). Her marriage to the titan Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau in 1977 may also have played a role, as she often and willingly stepped into his shadow.

Escerpts from reviews of previously released volumes included in this set:

Julia Varady sings Wagner

Varady's reading of the Wesendonck Lieder is remarkable, enthralling. There's nothing here of the slow, wallowing approach often favoured today. The feeling of the words is one of very present emotions. And transfiguration is a feature of Varady's concentrated, urgent Liebestod, her complete absorption with the text as much as with the music an object-lesson in great Wagner singing. The players of Fischer-Dieskau's Berlin orchestra cover themselves in glory. The recording is exemplary.

– Gramophone

Julia Varady sings Richard Strauss

The final scene of Salome, under the watchful eye of Varady's husband, Fischer-Dieskau, has the perfection of pitch and phrase one expects of this singer, as well as an expected acuity for the meaning of the text.

– Gramophone

Julia Varady - Puccini Arias

A lovely and somewhat surprising record by the most fascinating and patrician lyric soprano of the present age: 'surprising' because, though Varady is associated closely enough with Verdi, the Puccini connection is less readily made, 'lovely' because the voice is still so pure, the style so musical and the response so intelligent, immediate and full-hearted. She adjusts wonderfully well to the Italian idiom, lightening the vowels, freeing the upper range, allowing more portamento than she would probably do in other music, yet employing in its use the finest technical skill and artistic judgement.

– Gramophone