Schubert’s Schwanengesang here contains an extra song, Herbst D945. That song was not published as part of the posthumous compilation that Haslinger brought out and called “Swan Song”, but is another Rellstab setting from Schubert’s last year, as are the first seven songs of the original publication. Herbst was lost at that stage, as the only copy was written into a friend’s autograph album, and not rediscovered until the end of the 19th century. It might even have been a try-out for Aufenthalt which sits fifth in the published sequence, and which it resembles. Herbst follows that song on this disc, since as the baritone claims in the booklet “it is sometimes included in performance.” I don’t think it matters very much, but I have a slight preference for the cycle as it was first published. As Martin Chusid observes in his fine book on the cycle, “Whereas Herbst is a very good song, Aufenthalt is superb.”
That is not the only point of textual interest in this Schwanengesang. In preparing the work baritone James Rutherford and pianist Eugene Asti had to decide what keys to put these (originally high voice) songs in, and decided to put every song down a minor third, preserving the key relations at least. They even claim this might be the first time on disc this has been done (but one would need to listen to an awful lot of recordings to be quite sure). Of course this deepens and darkens the songs, which suits some more than others, the heavier songs like Der Atlas and Die Stadt tending to sound very imposing in these keys. And although BIS describe Rutherford as a baritone, he sounds more of a bass-baritone here. But then he has sung Hans Sachs at Bayreuth and Vienna, and the cast list in my score of Die Meistersinger says simply “Hans Sachs – Bass”.
The opening song Liebesbotschaft lacks a certain tripping lightness, but the next one Kreigers Ahnung suits Rutherford’s very fine voice perfectly, and one notices his impeccable German diction from the start. The third song, Frühlingssehnsucht shows that his large voice can deploy a lighter manner, and he really relishes the text. Ständchen, is the best known of all these songs and benefits here from a restrained but still ardent treatment. Following Aufenthalt with Herbst feels slightly like viewing a sketch after the finished painting, but both songs are so well done it seems churlish to complain. With the long (six minutes), slow and anguished In der Ferne the low voice makes its mark, as does the pianist in Abschied, with just the right tempo - a canter, not a gallop, that allows the singer to articulate the text. The performance of the Heine songs in the second part are if anything even more successful than the Rellstab ones, reaching a powerful climax with the rising hysteria of Der Dopplegänger. A properly charming account of the last song Schubert ever wrote, Die Taubenpost, closes a very satisfying version of Schwanengesang.
The four extra songs filling the disc are all favourites, and all are well sung and played. The SACD sound is excellent, and the useful booklet notes are by the distinguished American Schubert scholar Susan Youens, no less. But of course Schwanengesang is the main thing, and there are many fine accounts to choose from. If you want Herbst embedded in the cycle, and in a really fine performance, then it is included by Goerne in both of his splendid versions (Decca and Harmonia Mundi), and by Schreier (Decca), but Fischer-Dieskau (DG), Bostridge (Warner), and Gerhaher (Arte Nova) omit it. Of the few women to record the cycle, Fassbaender (DG) has it in but Stutzman (Erato) does not. The best solution might be that of Holzmair (Decca) and Pregardien (Challenge) who add it to the CD as an extra, but not within the cycle, which also happens on the last volume (No.37) of the Hyperion/Graham Johnson version. That has the two parts of the cycle shared between two tenors, John Mark Ainsley and Anthony Rolfe Johnson. There are now so many good recordings of this cycle – all of those mentioned above are worth hearing, and several are worth owning. Goerne on Decca (live, with Brendel) is still my choice of the lower voice options, and Bostridge among the tenors. Fassbaender’s disc is a quite exceptional performance. But the long list of those worth really hearing now includes this fine version too.
– MusicWeb International (Roy Westbrook)
On Sale
Schubert: Schwanengesang / Rutherford, Asti
$21.99
$15.99
SACD
BIS
May 13, 2016
BIS-2180
IDYL WILD
ORIGIN RECORDS
Available as
CD
$16.49
Oct 15, 2013
Following last year's "Hymn," which featured the Seattle bassist in an intimate trio with saxophonist Todd DelGiudice and pianist Geoff Keezer, Hamar hits here with an open-ended, double saxophone quartet. DelGiudice returns on alto and he's matched with the remarkable New York tenor saxophonist, Rich Perry, who together provide wide-ranging contrapuntal intrigue for Hamar and drummer Julian MacDonough to play against. "Idyl Wild" properly suggests the musical landscape of this new collection - a controlled burn, slow simmer, extravagance or beauty with a hint of volatility, carefree risk-taking laden with abundant opportunity.
IDYL WILD
$16.49
CD
ORIGIN RECORDS
Oct 15, 2013
ORGI82653.2
Garrop: In Eleanor's Words...in Stacy's Notes
Cedille
Available as
CD
$19.99
$9.99
Feb 22, 2011
REVIEW:
There’s a very serious talent at work in this music by Stacy Garrop. Silver Dagger is a folk-song setting for piano trio, along similar lines to Vaughan Williams’ Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus, and it’s extremely beautiful and quite fetchingly composed for the three instruments. In Eleanor’s Words is a cycle of six songs drawn from the newspaper columns of Eleanor Roosevelt. The concept is a good one: Roosevelt’s prose often approaches poetry, and her unfailing intelligence makes for texts that are worth reading on their own, and for which Garrop has found a similarly conversational musical style that fits them perfectly. The music is attractive and approachable, but not facile. There’s a version for chamber orchestra that I would dearly love to hear, but it would be difficult to imagine a more affectingly sung performance than that by mezzo Buffy Baggott—and Kuang-Hao Huang accompanies beautifully.
Gaia is an ambitious string quartet in five movements lasting about 34 minutes...I loathed Garrop’s Second Quartet “Demons and Angels”, and this one strikes me as far more appealing and successful. The sonics are just great...this disc makes an excellent case for exploring more of Garrop’s music.
-- ClassicsToday (David Hurwitz)
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Garrop: In Eleanor's Words...in Stacy's Notes
$19.99
$9.99
CD
Cedille
Feb 22, 2011
CDR 122
AD HOC
Q-RIOUS MUSIC
Available as
CD
$15.99
Feb 11, 2014
The active support for "ad hoc "he has gathered around himself by using outstanding masters of their craft whilst trying to crack this latest musical puzzle has paid off for Miller. With them at his side he has created an open-minded new work, which should delight fans of rich and diverse sounds everywhere. Those working at the frontiers of their art don't care about traditional genre barriers and in titles like " Exiting Purgatory", written in an intricate 7/8, the tender and melodic "Eva", the meditative " Shavasana " and " Moroccan roll " reminiscent of Weather Report's World Jazz, he has transcended all style barriers. What is special with this album is that he doesn't just stop at the mere crossover of time signatures, close together, sometimes wide apart, it's the combination of modern jazz, electronica, acoustic folk, contemporary classical and world music combined " ad hoc" style that leads to something entirely new. There isn't yet an appropriate genre term for such a symbiosis, it's yet to be coined, any suggestions anyone'
AD HOC
$15.99
CD
Q-RIOUS MUSIC
Feb 11, 2014
QRI127.2
Holst: Suite De Ballet - A Song of the Night - the Wandering
Chandos
Available as
CD
$13.99
$6.99
Jul 31, 2012
Another re-release from Hickox’s classic recordings finds us knee-deep in lesser-known and widely varied works of Gustav Holst. The Suite de Ballet is one of Holst’s lighter orchestral pieces, worked colorfully with a slightly French flair. Song of the Night for solo violin shows the composer in a confident and imaginative Romantic frame of mind. Finally, the comic chamber opera The Wandering Scholar was one of Holst’s latest works, stripped down to only the barest necessities. Hickox’s lively performance was hailed as inspiring “full-blooded music-making” throughout.
On Sale
Holst: Suite De Ballet - A Song of the Night - the Wandering
$13.99
$6.99
CD
Chandos
Jul 31, 2012
CHAN 10725 X
THIN AIR
THIRSTY EAR
Available as
CD
$16.49
Mar 24, 2009
Thirsty Ear would like to congratulate Mary Halvorson, Guitarist and Composer, as Fellow for the 2019 MacArthur Genius Award. Mary Halvorson & Jessica Pavone have collectively been featured in the New York Times, Jazz Review, the Wire, Time Out New York, Time Out Chicago, the New York Press, Jazztimes, All About Jazz, BBC and Downbeat. From the collaborative minds and nimble fingers of Mary Halvorson (Guitar, Vocals) and Jessica Pavone (Viola, Vocals) come a minimalist rendering of emotions and themes, performed with stark clarity and introspection. "Thin Air" is a presentation involving their vast talents as musicians, vocalists and poets. Their lyrics borrow from themes relating to everything from human relationships and travelling to more abstract and intangible elements. These melodies are offered in a sparse yet effervescent style that make the listener feel as though they are sitting right next to them, much like an impromptu coffeehouse performance. Both intimate and forward thinking, this release is a true example of the power of thought, through a unique blending of avant folk with jazz underpinnings.
This truly unique recording for Signum sees Joby Burgess arrange some of Eric Whitacre’s ever-popular choral works for Marimba quartet. The warm, earthy sound of the marimbas makes for a spectacular record. One of Britain’s most diverse percussionists, Joby Burgess is best known for his virtuosic performances, daring collaborations, extensive education work, and regular appearances throughout Europe, the USA and beyond. Dedicated to the development of the percussion repertoire, often in combination with electronics, Joby spends much of his time commissioning and recording new music. Recent highlights have included the release Gabriel Prokofiev’s Bass Drum Concerto with the Ural Philharmonic Orchestra on Signum Records, ‘PUNKIT’ – an adventurous participatory project for massed percussion ensemble by Stephen Deazley, and ‘Pioneers of Percussion’ – a solo recital programme featuring new work by Nicol Lizée, Linda Buckley and Rebecca Dale.
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REVIEW:
Anyone who knows Eric Whitacre’s choral works will doubtless have been struck by their supremely lush harmonies and overall gorgeous sounds. With these clever arrangements of some of them for various combinations of marimbas and vibraphones, with either two or four instruments being employed, Joby Burgess has managed to breathe new life into what will I’m sure become timeless works. Who knows perhaps this opens the way to treating these pieces to the same kind of arrangements that has been the case for Arvo Pärt’s Fratres which shows that the same music can sound quite different when passed through the prism of varied and different instruments, each one equally valid in its own right.
Marimbas have that ethereal almost unworldly sound that so perfectly matches the similar qualities found in Whitacre’s music. In Lux Aurumque (Light, warm and heavy as pure gold) one can almost feel the warmth while similar aural textures come to the fore in October which describes the colours of autumn again with palpable luminosity. One of the features of marimbas and vibraphones is the resonance that comes from the sustained note that lingers after being hit adding to its other worldly sound.
A Boy and a Girl is played in short passages which serve up another way of hearing these evocative instruments and Sleep rounds off an experience that is quite unique and almost defies description; this is music that must be heard since words cannot do it the justice it deserves. The composer is quoted as saying that Joby Burgess is a “musical genius” in achieving “these really clever, beautiful arrangements” and I couldn’t agree more. At less than 22 minutes this is a very short programme but the asking price is commensurate with its length so if you are a marimba fan I can confidently predict you will love this sumptuous sounding disc.
Digitally remastered two CD set containing a trio of late 1970s albums from ace trumpeter and band leader Maynard Ferguson. Bob James produced Primal Scream which features musicians such as Stanley Clarke, Bob James and Steve Khan amongst others. Fergusons playing, vibrancy and arrangements have stood the test of time and, remastered, sound even better today! a reflection of Fergusons popularity was that New Vintage and Carnival both made the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart. Slipcased with extensive new notes.
PRIMAL SCREAM/NEW VINTAGE/CARNIVAL
$16.99
CD
IMPORTS
Mar 04, 2014
IMT2491170.2
The King's Singers: The Library, Vol. 1
Signum Classics
Available as
CD
$10.99
$5.49
Mar 06, 2020
Acclaimed for their life-affirming virtuosity and irresistible charm, The King’s Singers are in global demand. Their work – synonymous with the best in vocal ensemble performance – appeals to a vast international audience. “The Library is the name of a series of EP releases that celebrates our ‘close-harmony’ library, both historically and as it grows each year. Close-harmony is the phrase we have always used to describe its lighter repertoire, and we see The Library as our chance to make sure this rich vein of great songwriting and arranging gets the place of prominence it deserves. The Library recording series will involve regular releases which will come out alongside other touring and recording projects, giving us an output for revisiting some of these old favorites and commissioning brand new ‘close-harmony’ from recent releases. Every volume in The Library series will capture a variety of songs, celebrating the wonderful diversity of music in our world today.”
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The King's Singers: The Library, Vol. 1
$10.99
$5.49
CD
Signum Classics
Mar 06, 2020
SIGCD601
WHEN ANGELS SPEAK OF LOVE
GREYSCALE
Available as
CD
$16.99
Feb 24, 2017
Digitally remastered edition. Sun Ra was an American jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, poet and philosopher known for his experimental music, "cosmic philosophy", prolific output, and theatrical performances. He was inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame in 1979. For much of his career, Ra led "The Arkestra", an ensemble with an ever-changing name and flexible line-up. As John Szwed writes about "When Angels Speak of Love was considered a bizarre record when it was heard even three years later, made more bizarre by extreme echo, horns straining for the shrillest notes possible, rhythms layered, their polyrhythmic effect exaggerated by massive reverberation (which was abruptly turned off and on). 'Next Stop Mars' is the centerpiece of the album, a very long work which opens with a space chant, followed by Allen and Gilmore taking chances on their horns beyond what almost any other musician would dare at that time. Sun Ra played behind them, again relentlessly spinning around a single tonal center with two-handed independence, then rumbling thunderously at the bottom of the keyboard against Boykins's bass, a clangor made heavier by electronic enhancement." In other words, Classic RA and now finally available on CD.
WHEN ANGELS SPEAK OF LOVE
$16.99
CD
GREYSCALE
Feb 24, 2017
GYSC13.2
Mozart: Piano Concertos, Vol. 5 - K. 175, 271 & 246; Overtures / Bavouzet
Chandos
Available as
CD
$43.99
$21.98
Mar 06, 2020
Featuring sensitive interpretations and a dazzling orchestral accompaniment, this release includes Four Mozart piano concertos punctuated by smaller Mozart tunes. Award-winning pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet enjoys a prolific recording and international concert career. He regularly works with orchestras such as The Cleveland Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, London Philharmonic, BBC Symphony and NHK Symphony orchestras, and collaborates with conductors including Vladimir Ashkenazy, Vladimir Jurowski, Gianandrea Noseda, François- Xavier Roth, Nicholas Collon, Gábor Takács-Nagy and Sir Andrew Davis amongst others. Bavouzet records exclusively for Chandos and his recording of Grieg’s Piano Concerto with Bergen Philharmonic under Edward Gardner has been nominated for the Concerto category of the 2018 Gramophone Awards. Together with Manchester Camerata and Gábor Takács-Nagy, Bavouzet has recorded several of Haydn’s Piano Concertos and embarked on the present series of Mozart concertos, which have been critically acclaimed.
On Sale
Mozart: Piano Concertos, Vol. 5 - K. 175, 271 & 246; Overtures / Bavouzet
$43.99
$21.98
CD
Chandos
Mar 06, 2020
CHAN 20137(2)
TEMPESTUOUS TRUMPET & THE BIG BANDS BACK IN TOWN
SEPIA RECORDINGS
Available as
CD
$13.99
Nov 12, 2013
Trumpet Virtuoso Doc Severinsen was leader of the Johnny Carson hosted "Tonight Show" from 1967 to 1992 while having a prolific recording career. Tempestuous Trumpet / the Big Band's Back in Town, both from the early 1960s and produced by Enoch Light, offer the listener exciting big band music with excellent trumpet playing. First time on CD and re-mastered.
TEMPESTUOUS TRUMPET & THE BIG BANDS BACK IN TOWN
$13.99
CD
SEPIA RECORDINGS
Nov 12, 2013
SEPI1245.2
Penderecki & Xenakis: Complete Works for Cello Solo
DUX
Available as
CD
$21.99
$10.99
Aug 27, 2013
In his capacity as conductor of contemporary music ensembles, Kociuban has given premieres of many new pieces. As a cellist, he pursues a career as a soloist, an orchestral player and a member of chamber groups. He’s given many first performances of solo and chamber works. This includes the world premiere recording of Violoncello totale.
On Sale
Penderecki & Xenakis: Complete Works for Cello Solo
$21.99
$10.99
CD
DUX
Aug 27, 2013
DUX957
FATS WALLER COLLECTION 1922-43
FABULOUS
Available as
CD
$6.99
Oct 01, 2013
This is part of a mini-series on our competitively priced budget label Fabulous under the banner of Jazz Legends, presenting some of great and influential names of jazz, with recordings drawn from the classic era of the genre's development between 1920 and 1950. Thomas "Fats" Waller was a hugely popular and equally influential pianist, organist, singer, composer and comedic entertainer during the formative decades of jazz, and his unique style, and memorable hit songs earned him a special place in the world of entertainment, transcending the boundaries between jazz and wider popular culture, and enjoying success on both sides of the Atlantic. Waller was a pioneer of the stride piano style distinctively associated with Harlem, and it was the basis of many of the hits he wrote, which have become perennially popular standards such as "Honeysuckle Rose" and "Ain't Misbehaving", among many others. This collection traces his career from his first recordings in the early '20s through to just before his untimely death in 1943, when he appeared in the movie "Stormy Weather", and features him performing both on piano and organ, singing hits recorded with quintet or sextet "Fats Waller & His Rhythm", and also accompanying Adelaide Hall. It's an enjoyable snapshot of a great artist's work.
FATS WALLER COLLECTION 1922-43
$6.99
CD
FABULOUS
Oct 01, 2013
FAB356.2
Friedman: Piano Transcriptions / Banowetz
Grand Piano
Available as
CD
$19.99
Aug 12, 2016
Polish pianist Ignaz Friedman was one of the leading virtuosos of his day as well as a composer and a master transcriber. Friedman's transcriptions are both a delight for the listener and a challenge for the performer, and his creative imagination gives these delicious, charming and moving works a life of their own. The pianistic effects are both breathtakingly bravura and disarmingly subtle while remaining faithful to the originals.
Friedman: Piano Transcriptions / Banowetz
$19.99
CD
Grand Piano
Aug 12, 2016
GP712
KEEP YOUR SOUL TOGETHER/POLAR AC/SKAGLY
IMPORTS
Available as
CD
$16.99
May 13, 2014
Digitally remastered two CD set containing a trio of albums form the Jazz great - Keep Your Soul Together (1974), Polar AC (1975), and Skagly (1980). Amongst the sidemen featured on these albums are Billy Cobham, George Duke, George Benson, Hubert Law and Jeff Baxter. Keep Your Soul Together and Polar AC both made the US Top 200.
KEEP YOUR SOUL TOGETHER/POLAR AC/SKAGLY
$16.99
CD
IMPORTS
May 13, 2014
IMT2518977.2
Music From The Time Of Tillman Riemenschneider
Naxos
Available as
CD
$19.99
$9.99
Jan 18, 2005
Includes work(s) by various composers. Ensemble: Hedos Ensemble. Conductor: Bernhard Böhm.
Complete Recording of Mozart’s Violin Concertos
- Lena Neudauer belongs to the most famous violinists of her generation
- In combination with the Deutschen Radio Philharmonie
- Lena Neudauer already inspired with the complete recording of Schumann’s Works for Violin and Orchestra: „The sonorous voice of the Guadagnini-Violin of Lena Neudauer fills the whole sound stage.“ HifiRecords 2011 zu CD 93.285 At age 15, the young violinist Lena Neudauer had
already won the famous Leopold Mozart International
Competition in Augsburg, where she not only was
awarded 1st prize, but also took home the Mozart
Prize, Richard Strauss Prize for the best interpretation
of Richard Strauss' Violin Concerto and the Audience
Prize. Yet despite this spectacular accomplishment,
she refused to be pushed into becoming another “child
prodigy.” This well-balanced, clear-thinking side of her
being plays a special role with her interpretations of
Mozart's music. We are reminded of what father
Leopold wrote to his son Wolfgang Amadeus in 1777:
„You yourself do not know how well you play the violin;
if only you will do yourself credit and play with energy,
with your whole heart and mind...“. Lena Neudauer‘s
beautiful, pure violin tone perfectly fits the spirit of
these less-than-virtuoso, but supernaturally lovely
concertos, her sensitivity illuminating these works from
the inside. She is joined by conductor Bruno Weil, an
expert in the music of the Viennese classicists and
period instrument specialist, who transforms the
German Radio Philharmonic into an aural carpet, upon
which the soloist can move with quiet expression and
grace.
“No matter how one might try, one cannot be unkind to Mr. Bertini: he can bring one beside oneself with his friendliness and all his finely fragrant Parisian expressions; his music has the feel of pure satin and silk.” In his Neue Zeitschrift für Musik Robert Schumann gave numerous fellow musicians who rubbed him the wrong way a solid piece of his own mind, but he never found anything to hold against Henri Bertini, a French composer who was twelve years his senior. Although he was a little indirect in his praise, he was right: in the music of this once highly esteemed pianist, piano teacher, and composer there is nothing irritating, nothing that might offend good taste – and yet we never have the impression that here we have a composer who eliminated every trace of »modernity« merely to win public favor. Friendliness apparently was a characteristic trait of this musician who was born in London in 1798 and died in Meylan, near Grenoble, in 1876. He never attempted to go at everything headfirst to prove that it was possible to shatter the sound barrier. His countless études and learning pieces were so very popular internationally because a natural music flows in them, offering welcome expressive opportunities to the pupil. And his finely crafted chamber compositions – from the duo sonata to the nonet – form a catalogue’s trove of treasures combining a very fine ear with great narrative talent. Two of these magnificent pieces from the late 1830s – the Piano Trio op. 43 and the Nonet op. 107 – inaugurate this vibrant work series that would be a top wish for a complete recording edition and definitely in every way represents a valuable contribution to the repertoire.
Pulitzer Prize recipient and GRAMMY award-winner Aaron Jay Kernis is one of America’s most performed composers. Both works on this album exemplify his creative approach to orchestral composition, sharing elements in common, such as virtuoso percussion writing and the use of variation form. Color Wheel is an exuberant miniature concerto for orchestra with a wide array of contrasts, while Symphony No. 4 ‘Chromelodeon’ explores the coexistence of opposing musical forces to powerful, pensive, and touching effect. Champions of new American music, the Nashville Symphony and its music director Giancarlo Guerrero had premiered numerous works, and received 13 GRAMMY Awards including two for Best Orchestral Performance. Among their award-winning recordings include works by Michael Daugherty, Stephen Paulus, and Jennifer Higdon.
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REVIEW:
Passing through many moods, Color Wheel often employs orchestral virtuosity that explores every department in depth, the strings providing the bed-rock around which the wheel revolves. It is a sizeable score of some twenty-two minutes, that gives a showpiece for the fine Nashville Symphony and their conductor, Giancarlo Guerrero, the final passage a climax of monumental proportions. The recordings come from 2016 and 2019 but match one another perfectly, the extent of detail in the densely scored passages of Color Wheel is an achievement for the sound team. Those collecting the ‘American Classics’ series will be delighted.
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