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Elgar & Bruch: Violin Concertos / Pine, Litton, BBC Symphony

Avie Records

Available as CD

~~$19.99~~ $9.99

Jan 05, 2018

Billboard chart-topping violinist Rachel Barton Pine releases her 36th album and fourth for AVIE with her first recordings of two repertory staples, violin concertos by Edward Elgar and Max Bruch. The two works – Elgar’s only concerto for violin and Bruch’s first – straddle the turn of the 20th century but have in common a Romantic hue which Rachel probes with her rich, soulful tone.

The album is dedicated to “the memory of a musical hero and generous friend, Sir Neville Marriner,” who was to have reunited with Rachel on this album. She was fortunate to work with him on the scores, with Sir Neville vividly relating accounts of his teacher Billy Reed, former leader of the London Symphony Orchestra, who collaborated with Elgar on the creation of his violin concerto. Grammy Award-winning conductor Andrew Litton brings his own Romantic pedigree to the recording, as does the BBC Symphony Orchestra and celebrated producer Andrew Keener who himself has overseen award winning versions of the Elgar and Bruch concertos.

-----

REVIEW:

Pine’s interpretation of the Elgar is as emotionally satisfying as it is dazzling. The slow movement is mysteriously veiled and luminous, providing a palpable sense of the music’s darker undercurrents. She is most impressive, perhaps, in the finale, where her easy virtuosity sends sparks flying, though never at the expense of the long line.

Her performance of the Bruch is wholly persuasive in its mittel-European heartiness. The outer movements abound with snap and spice, and the Adagio has a warm solemnity that, one might argue, offers a foretaste of Elgarian nobilmente. The recorded sound is glorious, with a near-ideal balance between soloist and orchestra.

– Gramophone

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Elgar & Bruch: Violin Concertos / Pine, Litton, BBC Symphony

~~$19.99~~ $9.99
CD

Avie Records

Jan 05, 2018

AV2375

Vaughan Williams - A Birthday Garland / Roderick Williams & Susie Allan

SOMM Recordings

Available as CD

~~$20.99~~ $15.99

Mar 29, 2024

SOMM RECORDINGS is delighted to announce Vaughan Williams – A Birthday Garland, the debut on disc of baritone Roderick Williams and pianist Susie Allan’s popular concert tribute to Ralph Vaughan Williams originally marking the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth in 2022.

Curating a “fantasy birthday party concert” in tribute to “the grand-daddy of 20th-century English song”, Williams has assembled pieces by RVW and 18 fellow composers. The result is a wide-ranging celebration of the rich variety of English song over a century and more that pays tribute to Vaughan Williams’ influence with songs inspired by poets ranging from Shakespeare and Tennyson to W.B. Yeats and Walt Whitman.

First recordings include Herbert Howell’s The Sorrow of Love, a setting of the Irish poet Seamus O’Sullivan; Sarah Cattley’s A Square and Candle-lighted Boat, treating verses by RVW’s cousin, Frances Cornford; and Roderick Williams’ own distinctive take on William Blake’s The Shepherd.

The 30-song recital includes songs by RVW’s teachers (Stanford, Parry, Wood, Bruch, Ravel), friends (Holst, Gurney, Howells, Butterworth, Finzi and others), and pupils (Grace Williams, Ina Boyle, Ruth Gipps, Elizabeth Maconchy and Madeleine Dring). Vaughan Williams’ biographer Simon Heffer provides authoritative booklet notes.

SOMM’s previous Vaughan Williams releases include the widely acclaimed four-volume Vaughan Williams Live series (SOMM ARIADNE 5016, 5018, 5019-2, 5020); Mark Bebbington and Rebeca Omordia’s “compelling” (International Piano) survey of his Piano Music (SOMMCD 0164); and the “priceless document” (MusicWeb International) coupling the Fifth Symphony and Dona nobis pace (SOMMCD 071).

Roderick Williams and Susie Allan’s previous SOMM releases include Celebrating English Song (SOMMCD 0177), lauded by Gramophone as “a treat”; the Ivor Gurney-focused Severn & Somme (SOMM 057), “strongly recommended” by BBC Music Magazine; and Somervell’s A Shropshire Lad and Maud (SOMMCD 0615), “performances of much beauty, empathy and sensitivity” (British Music Society).

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Vaughan Williams - A Birthday Garland / Roderick Williams & Susie Allan

~~$20.99~~ $15.99
CD

SOMM Recordings

Mar 29, 2024

SOMMCD 0683

Music from the Ghetto / Heled, Warren-Green, London Chamber Orchestra

Signum Classics

Available as CD

~~$19.99~~ $9.99

Aug 18, 2023

The central thread linking all the works featured in this recording is their assimilation of various elements of Jewish music, whether directly stemming from Chassidic folk traditions, or relating to material directly associated with religious worship. Each composer responds to this music in different ways, attempting in varying degrees to integrate it within the structural conventions of a Western European musical mainstream. By doing so, the music projects a multitude of emotions and feelings.

“There is not enough music which highlights and celebrates the diverse background of composers and the fact that this album focuses on Jewish musical traditions makes it a hugely important progression in how the classical music industry is moving into a more culturally representative industry.” -- Jocelyn Lightfoot, Managing Director of the LCO

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Music from the Ghetto / Heled, Warren-Green, London Chamber Orchestra

~~$19.99~~ $9.99
CD

Signum Classics

Aug 18, 2023

SIGCD653

In Memoriam Françoise Groben

Haenssler Classic

Available as CD

$32.99

Jul 01, 2022

“One of the most important advantages that the Luxembourg citizen has when abroad is that linguistically and culturally we embrace both the German and the French cultures...This gives a Luxemburger, particularly one active in the arts or the cultural environment, a different outlook and approach,” suggested Luxembourg composer Alexander Müllenbach in an interview. Perhaps it is this different perspective, the quite individual, open approach, that Françoise Groben herself had, a quality that she brought to her performance of German and French compositions for the cello. And it is for that reason that Banque Générale de Luxembourg placed at her disposal an exquisite instrument built by Matteo Goffriller in 1695.

Françoise Groben was born in Luxembourg on December 4, 1965. She received her first lessons in the cello at the age of five at the city’s Conservatoire, studying there with Francine Weber-Deprelle, Jean Join und Georges Mallach. She eventually completed her studies with Boris Pergamenschikov at the Cologne Musikhochschule, graduating in her concert examination, while continuing to attend master classes given by such artists as Daniil Shafran in Moscow or William Pleeth in London, or by the Amadeus Quartet. From 1974 onwards she was a member of the ensemble Les Musiciens founded by her father, Joseph Groben, and was only 15 when she first played in the Youth Orchestra of the European Union, going on to perform under such conductors as Claudio Abbado, Daniel Barenboim, Herbert von Karajan and Georg Solti. The recordings collected here illustrate the entire spectrum of Françoise Groben’s artistic interests, demonstrating that she was not only a leading soloist but also a gifted and coveted chamber musician who regularly included pieces by Luxembourg composers in her programs and was strongly committed to contemporary female composers.

In Memoriam Françoise Groben

$32.99
CD

Haenssler Classic

Jul 01, 2022

HC22021

Seiji Ozawa and the Berlin Philharmonic

Berlin Philharmoniker

Available as CD

~~$99.99~~ $74.99

Jan 03, 2025

It was more than just breathing together in the music that made this relationship so extraordinary: Seiji Ozawa earned the respect and affection of the orchestra from the very first time he met the Berliner Philharmoniker in 1966. The young Japanese conductor knew exactly what he wanted on the podium and knew the scores down to the smallest detail. Nevertheless, the always polite and approachable conductor never imposed his views on the orchestra. The result was a partnership on an equal footing, which was not only rewarding on a personal level, but above all enabled music-making in which there was always room for freedom and spontaneity. Our edition is a tribute to this special friendship with Seiji Ozawa, who the Berliner Philharmoniker made an honorary member in 2016.

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Seiji Ozawa and the Berlin Philharmonic

~~$99.99~~ $74.99
CD

Berlin Philharmoniker

Jan 03, 2025

BPHR240431

Jerzy Kosmala Live Recordings, Vol. 1

Centaur Records

Available as CD

$15.99

May 01, 2026

Dr. Jerzy Kosmala, internationally acclaimed as a concert violist and pedagogue, has concertized throughout Europe, the former Soviet Union, Canada, North and South America, Asia, and South Africa, and has recordings on several record labels. He is a frequent guest artist and performer at the world's foremost festivals, International Viola Congresses, universities, and academies, and is a permanent jury member of virtually all of the most prestigious international competitions, including the Lionel Tertis, Geneva, Munich, Markneukirchen, Trapani, Primrose Viola Competition, Brahms Viola Competition, and the Concert Artist Guild International Competition in New York City.

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Jerzy Kosmala Live Recordings, Vol. 1

$15.99
CD

Centaur Records

May 01, 2026

CRC4182

Wetz: Symphony No 3, Gesand Des Lebens / Albert, Et Al

CPO

Available as CD

$18.99

Jan 01, 2002

Richard Wetz's ultra-conservative Third Symphony, like his second, resembles sort of a cross between Bruckner and Max Bruch. Not that this explains anything useful. One thing's for sure, though: Wetz writes beautiful music. His themes sing, stay with you when listening, and offer clearly contrasting moods and images. While never calling attention to itself in an ostentatious manner, Wetz's orchestration elucidates his musical arguments with perfect clarity and efficiency. His harmony, both diatonic and tastefully chromatic, is gorgeous. There's more than a touch of Schubert in his mixture of major and minor modes, and he knows how to use both discrete dissonance and fluid rhythms to carry his melodies across the bar lines. In short, the guy knows how to write symphonically, and if he now appears to have been born a generation or more too late (the piece dates from 1922 but sounds more like 1872), that need not concern us now.

Highlights of this work include an impressively argued opening, a truly noble slow movement that packs a Brucknerian sense of timeless spirituality into a mere 11 minutes, a scherzo full of gentle humor (with a lovely and lyrical trio), and a passionate, wholly satisfying finale that never overstays its welcome despite being more than 14 minutes long. This last, in particular, represents no small achievement in a late-Romantic symphony, and the closing pages, where Wetz decides to explore (so earnestly and so well) "The Greatest Hits from the Coda of Bruckner's Fifth", will bring a smile to the lips of every music lover. The coupling, Gesang des Lebens for chorus and orchestra, really does sound like an eight-minute-long Max Bruch wannabe (terrifying thought!), and in this case offers nothing at all memorable. However, if you're interested in music that expresses the best in the conservative German tradition, you'll find much to enjoy in this authoritatively paced, well-played, richly recorded, genuine "sleeper" of a symphony. Listen to it with respect. It really grows on you.
--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

Wetz: Symphony No 3, Gesand Des Lebens / Albert, Et Al

$18.99
CD

CPO

Jan 01, 2002

999818-2

BRUCH & STENHAMMER: VIOLIN WORK

RUBICON

Available as CD

$20.17

Nov 16, 2018

Bruch Violin Concerto No.1 in G minor op26, Stenhammar Violin Sonata in A major op19 / Christian Svarfvar (violin), London Philharmonic Orchestra Joana Carneiro conductor, Henrik M�we piano* Christian Svarfvar has emerged as one of Scandinavia's most sought after concert violinists. His debut album of the three Grieg Violin Sonatas was praised by the Financial Times 'buoyed by Svarfvar's fearless expression, rock-solid technique, stylistic acumen, Christian did us and Grieg a big favour and we must hear more from him' Svarfar has worked with orchestras such as the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Simon Bolivar Orchestra, Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. He has also collaborated in chamber projects with Martin Fr�st, Maxim Rysanov, Tabea Zimmermann, Janine Jansen, Clemens Hagen, and with contemporary composers Steve Reich, Kaija Saariaho, Howard Shore and Anders Hillborg. - For his first album for Rubicon, Christian has recorded perhaps the most famous and best loved of all 19th century concertos, Max Bruch's evergreen first Violin Concerto, and paired it with the Wilhelm Stenhammar's warmly romantic Violin Sonata. The same composer's two Sentimental Romances conclude the disc.

BRUCH & STENHAMMER: VIOLIN WORK

$20.17
CD

RUBICON

Nov 16, 2018

RBCN1033.2

Bartok & Babin: Piano Concertos / Kamdzhalov, Piano Duo Genova & Dimitrov, Bulgarian National Radio Symphony

CPO

Available as CD

~~$18.99~~ $9.49

Jan 20, 2017

Concertos for two pianos and orchestra by Felix Mendelssohn and Max Bruch belong to the standard German romantic repertoire for piano duos. Genova & Dimitrov have recorded them as well as the concertos of Francis Poulenc, Darius Milhaud, and Robert Casadesus. If until these composers the piano above all functioned to develop complex melodic and harmonic relations, then the Hungarian composer, pianist, folk music researcher, editor, and teacher Béla Bartók moved the piano or pianos closer to the percussion family. Here his Concerto for Two Pianos is presented along with the Concerto for Two Pianos by Victor Babin. This highly effective work, in its substance hardly needing to hide behind other classically inspired concertos of the twentieth century, is heard in a world-premiere recording. The American Victor Babin (Viktor Genrikhovich Babin), who died in 1972, made music history primarily as the member of a famous piano duo. With his wife this strapping, strong son from a Jewish Russian family formed the Vronsky & Babin Duo. Newsweek described it as the most brilliant piano duo of its time. Babin studied composition under Franz Schreker in Berlin and piano under Artur Schnabel. His Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra breathes a neoclassical spirit from the tradition of the Russian dynamo Stravinsky and even more so of Prokofiev, mixed with the mirthful and grotesque musical impact of a Shostakovich. Listeners may also detect Influences from the Groupe de Six. In this marvelously transparent score Victor Babin proves to be a dazzling instrumentator.

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Bartok & Babin: Piano Concertos / Kamdzhalov, Piano Duo Genova & Dimitrov, Bulgarian National Radio Symphony

~~$18.99~~ $9.49
CD

CPO

Jan 20, 2017

555001-2

Cello Cantabile

Vermeer Records

Available as CD

$16.99

Mar 25, 2022

I solisti di Pavia was founded about twenty years ago and nowadays can be seen as a stable and affirmed ensemble in both the Italian and European music scenes. Along with their leader, Italian cellist Enrico Dindo, the group has become internationally renowned. This ensemble presents a Chamber repertoire which runs from the XVIII Century to present day giving to the audience an interpretation which joins accurate historical performance practice with a fresh and lively musicality. In this album Enrico Dindo and the ensemble Solisti di Pavia present some of the most famous works for cello: from Max Bruch Kol Nidrei (opening the album) to Saint-Sa�ns Le Cygne.

Cello Cantabile

$16.99
CD

Vermeer Records

Mar 25, 2022

VRM400031

VIOLIN CONCERTO NO 1, FLORENCE PRICE: VIOLIN CTOS

DECCA

Available as CD

$14.62

Jun 16, 2023

Conducted by Yannick Nezet-Seguin, Randall Goosby performs Max Bruch's Violin Concerto and both of Florence Price's Violin Concertos. Recorded by the Grammy-winning team behind Yannick's Florence Price Symphonies 1 & 3.

VIOLIN CONCERTO NO 1, FLORENCE PRICE: VIOLIN CTOS

$14.62
CD

DECCA

Jun 16, 2023

DCAB003792202.2

A Musical Journey - A Musical Tour Of Bavaria

Naxos AudioVisual

Available as DVD

$13.99

May 26, 2009

BAVARIA

The Places
The Road of Romance, in South Bavaria, leads through the countryside to the great castle of Weikersheim, former residence of the Counts and Princes Hohenlohe. Further exploration of Bavaria and the Bavarian Forest leads to Prunn Castle on its rocky eminence, and finally to Würzburg on the River Main and the Marienberg Fortress.

The Music
Max Bruch, a native of Cologne, enjoyed a career that took him, as a conductor, to Liverpool, Coblenz, Breslau and Bonn, before his final years in Berlin. His first Violin Concerto remains among his most popular works. Carl Maria von Weber led an even more varied life that took him to musical centres in Germany and Austria. He was a pioneer of German romantic opera, and three opera overtures are chosen here. Der Freischütz (The Marksman) evokes the spirit of the German forest, while Euryanthe explores more exotic territory, as does Oberon, Weber's final opera, written for London in 1826, the last year of his life.

Picture format: NTSC 4:3
Sound format: Dolby Digital / DTS Surround
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Running time: 53 mins
No. of DVDs: 1 (US and Canada)

A Musical Journey - A Musical Tour Of Bavaria

$13.99
DVD

Naxos AudioVisual

May 26, 2009

2110243

Nowowiejski: Return of the Prodigal Son / Sułkowski, Warmia and Masuria Philharmonic

DUX

Available as CD

$21.99

Jul 01, 2022

Works by the composer, organist, conductor and organizer of the musical life Feliks Nowowiejski (1877–1946) are relatively rarely performed today, which is why they are little known to a wider audience. Associated with Poznań, the composer of the famous "Rota", among various genre and highly skilled creative works, also left behind a unique Oratorio for solo voices, choir, orchestra and organ, Op. 3 to the libretto by Theobald Rehbaum. The work "Die Heimkehr des Verlorenen Sohnes" ("The Return of the Prodigal Son”) was composed in 1901, during Nowowiejski's studies in Berlin under the supervision of the outstanding composer and conductor Max Bruch. The world premiere of the work took place only in 1993 (the composer himself had never heard the entire work) and since then one of the first oratorios of Polish music has not been performed. Thanks to the DUX label, the recording of the oratorio concert "The Return of the Prodigal Son" in the original language version is available to listeners, recorded by the Symphony Orchestra of the Warmian-Masurian Philharmonic.

Nowowiejski: Return of the Prodigal Son / Sułkowski, Warmia and Masuria Philharmonic

$21.99
CD

DUX

Jul 01, 2022

DUX1693

Lalo: Symphonie Espagnole; Saint-Saens: Violin Concerto No.

Chandos

Available as CD

~~$21.99~~ $16.99

Apr 04, 2025

Pablo de Sarasate was born in Pamplona, Spain, and became an acclaimed virtuoso of the violin by the tender age of twelve. The child prodigy was sent away to study at the Paris Conservatoire, and Sarasate spent the rest of his life in Paris. In demand nationally and internationally as a soloist, he was the dedicatee of a large number of important concertos by composers ranging from Max Bruch to Henryk Wieniawski. Lalo's Symphonie espagnole was composed for Sarasate, who gave the Paris premiere, in 1875. The work is laid out in five movements and bristles with Spanish themes, rhythms, and influences, which were very much the vogue in France at that time. Also composed for Sarasate, Saint-Saens' Third Violin Concerto was composed in 1880. Written in his usual clear, refined, almost classical style, the work has endured as the most played of his three violin concertos. The album is completed with Sarasate's own fantasia on Bizet's Carmen - a virtuosic tour de force for the soloist, brilliantly played here by James Ehnes.

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Lalo: Symphonie Espagnole; Saint-Saens: Violin Concerto No.

~~$21.99~~ $16.99
CD

Chandos

Apr 04, 2025

CHAN 20333

Kuyper: Piano Trio, Violin Sonata

Brilliant Classics

Available as CD

$14.99

Feb 27, 2026

Elisabeth Kuyper (1877-1953) was a Dutch composer, pianist, and conductor whose career unfolded during a time when women struggled for recognition in the professional music world. Born in Amsterdam, she studied composition at the Berlin Hochschule f�r Musik under Max Bruch, who became both a mentor and advocate. Kuyper soon established herself as an accomplished composer of chamber music, orchestral works, and songs, and in 1908 she became the first woman to receive the Mendelssohn Prize for composition. Beyond her creative output, she was also a trailblazer in performance: she founded and conducted the Berlin Women's Orchestra, and later the London Women's Orchestra, ensembles that provided essential opportunities for female musicians. Kuyper's chamber works stand out for their lyrical warmth and structural clarity, particularly her Piano Trio in D minor, Op.17. The piano trio, composed around 1911, demonstrates her ability to balance Romantic expressiveness with classical form. It's sweeping themes, rhythmic vitality, and rich interplay between instruments reveal a composer deeply attuned to both instrumental color and ensemble dialogue. The slow movement, marked by a poignant melodic line, highlights Kuyper's gift for shaping long, singing phrases, while the finale captures a sense of momentum and optimism. The Violin Sonata, an earlier work, reflects the influence of her teacher Bruch, yet bears Kuyper's distinctive voice. The sonata combines broad, songful melodies with finely wrought harmonic progressions, offering the violin ample lyrical freedom while keeping the piano as an equal partner. Although long overshadowed, Kuyper's works are now being rediscovered, offering modern audiences insight into a composer who defied convention and left a legacy of eloquent, expressive chamber music. Played with warmth and commitment by Maristella Patuzzi (violin), Alessandra Doninelli (cello) and Mario Patuzzi (piano). Patuzzi successfully recorded for Brilliant Classics works by Ernest Bloch and Othmar Schoeck.

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Kuyper: Piano Trio, Violin Sonata

$14.99
CD

Brilliant Classics

Feb 27, 2026

BRI97714

Williams: String Quartets Nos. 1 & 2 - Holst: Phantasy Quartet / Tippett Quartet

SOMM Recordings

Available as CD

~~$20.99~~ $15.99

Oct 14, 2022

SOMM Recordings celebrates the 150th anniversary of Ralph Vaughan Williams’s birth with insightful, deeply felt accounts of his String Quartets Nos.1 and 2, coupled with Gustav Holst’s Phantasy Quartet, by the Tippett Quartet.

This major release sheds new light on one of the enduring friendships of 20th-century British music, Vaughan Williams and Holst having first met at the Royal College of Music in 1895. Vaughan Williams’ early interest in chamber music was fired by lessons with Max Bruch and Maurice Ravel, which prompted his String Quartet No.1 in G minor in 1908, later revised in 1922. It reveals Vaughan Williams, as Robert Matthew-Walker’s authoritative booklet notes suggest, “at his subtlest and most varied: lively, intense and rhythmically delightful… Nothing quite like this had appeared in English chamber-music up to that time”. His last but one chamber work, the A minor String Quartet No.2 (dedicated to Jean Stewart, violist of the Menges Quartet who gave its premiere in October 1944) gives prominence to the viola. Colored by wartime experience, it is a work of “turbulence and angst… an unemotional contemplation of bleak vistas” that movingly gives way to consoling serenity. Holst’s attractive Phantasy Quartet from 1917, heard here in Roderick Swanston’s edition commissioned by the Tippett Quartet who gave its first performance on BBC Radio 3’s In Tune, is based on four British folk-songs and offers “easy-going charm as well as much playfulness and warmth”.

The release continues the Tippett Quartet’s championing of British chamber music on SOMM, most recently with Dedication which focused on Ruth Gipps’ clarinet-led music (SOMMCD 0641) and was “recommended” by Gramophone. Their coupling of string quartets by William Alwyn and Doreen Carwithen (SOMMCD 0194) merited a five-star BBC Music Magazine review and was praised by The Strad for its “radiant insight and affection… utterly captivating”.

On Sale

Williams: String Quartets Nos. 1 & 2 - Holst: Phantasy Quartet / Tippett Quartet

~~$20.99~~ $15.99
CD

SOMM Recordings

Oct 14, 2022

SOMMCD 0656

Valen, Egge & Hvoslef

LAWO Classics

Available as CD

$18.99

Mar 15, 2013

HVOSLEF Piano Trio. VALEN Piano Trio. EGGE Piano Trio • Valen Tr • LAWO 1037 (67:55)

The Valen Trio’s CD covers the music of three generations of Norwegian composers, two of whom wrote in the 20th century: Fartein Valen (1887–1952) and Klaus Egge (1906–1979). The third, Ketil Hvoslef (b. 1939), not only composed in the past century, but also continues his work today. Although their works are not in date order on the disc, at some point, you might want to listen to them that way in order to get a better understanding of the progression.

Born in Stavanger, Fartein Valen studied organ before moving to Berlin in the hope of studying with Max Bruch. There, he worked on tonal and atonal counterpoint that involved dissonance. His music eventually bore similarities to the works of Bach and Schoenberg. Glenn Gould, who admired Valen’s compositions, found them distinctive and said, “For the first time in many years I have found a looming personality in the 20th century’s music.” For those of us listening in 2014, Valen is an interesting way station on the musical timeline. The Valen Trio—composed of Ricardo Odriozola, violin; John Ehde, cello; and Einar Røttingen, piano—play his rhythmic, energetic music with love and great attention to detail. Their excellent rendition of the composer’s work transports us back to the first part of the previous century when his kind of writing was revolutionary. Egge, who wrote in the middle of the century, was first inspired by folk music and wrote in a tonal language for some years before he began to explore atonalism. Having become a student of Valen, he was present at the premiere of the latter’s Trio. His works show the progress of Norwegian music at this time and they are of both musical and historical importance. The Valen Trio plays his op. 14 Trio with the stylistic knowledge that comes from a serious study of the composer and knowledge of the culture in which he worked.

The most modern composer whose music is recorded on this disc is Ketil Hvoslef. His Trio was first heard in 2011. Like Valen, Hvoslef first studied organ in Norway. Later, he moved to Stockholm and then to London to study composition. His compositional style has often varied with the makeup of the group for which he was writing. Beginning as a neo-Classicist, he has developed a personal musical language that shows his rhythmic ingenuity. The Trio begins with sustained string tones and rhythmic incursions by the piano. It continues with a dialogue between the strings and the piano followed by a languid slow section. For the Finale, Hvoslef returns to rhythm and music that makes the listener want to dance. The sound on this recording is well balanced among the three instruments. The ambience will make the listener feel that he or she is sitting in an appropriately sized hall for chamber music while hearing the Valen Trio play this music. Since this CD takes the listener on a historic tour of Norwegian chamber music, it will probably be of greatest interest to lovers of trios and the music of Scandinavia.

FANFARE: Maria Nockin

Valen, Egge & Hvoslef

$18.99
CD

LAWO Classics

Mar 15, 2013

LWC1037

Bruch, M.: Lied Von Der Glocke (Das) (Complete)

Thorofon

Available as CD

$37.99

Nov 01, 1995

Classical Music

Bruch, M.: Lied Von Der Glocke (Das) (Complete)

$37.99
CD

Thorofon

Nov 01, 1995

CTH22912

Yamada: Symphony "Triumph & Peace," Madara No Hana, The Dark Gate / Yuasa, Ulster Orchestra

Naxos

Available as CD

$19.99

Mar 01, 2004

Thanks to the thorough liner notes written by Morihide Katayama, I learned from this release that Kôsçak Yamada is considered the “father” of Japanese orchestral composition—the overture (1912) and symphony (1912) are claimed to be the first such scores composed in Japan. My curiosity was whetted when I read that Yamada, born in 1886, first encountered music through exposure to military bands and Anglican hymn tunes (though his father was born into the prevailing samurai class, his mother’s family was at some point converted to Protestantism), and at age eighteen traveled to Europe to study with, among others, Max Bruch at the Berlin Musikhochschule. From this unusual background, I was hoping to discover a Japanese Charles Ives. No such luck, at least from the evidence of the earliest works here (Yamada’s compositional career continued on until his death in 1965, though a cerebral hemorrhage in 1948 apparently restricted him to small-scale songs). The brief (under four minutes) overture is, to my ears, pure Mendelssohn in melody and spirit, and the symphony, somewhat more serious in form and content, sweeps through intimations of Dvo?ák, Beethoven, and Schumann, comfortable in its old-fashioned, pastoral style, and certainly without a trace of the Sturm und Drang suggested by the title. Katayama suggests that this title may have been added after WW I began in 1914; he also posits that the conservatism of these works may be due to their being student works submitted to Yamada’s composition teacher, Karl Leopold Wolf, reflecting the staid German instruction and required mimicry of models.

Certainly, there is a profound difference in tone and intent in the two symphonic poems composed in 1913. The brooding harmonies, more colorful orchestration, occasional bombastic eruptions, and less formal constraints of The Dark Gate point to the influence of Richard Strauss, and there’s even a hint of Scriabinesque mystery. Some credit, however, should go to Yamada’s ability as a psychological scene-painter, since the music was inspired by a poem describing the anxiety felt by a group of sightless persons unable to escape from behind a large gate. Likewise, the symbolism of death and paradise in Madara No Hana finds its voice in lush, Impressionistic orchestration (including a tenor saxophone!) and outbursts that suggest a familiarity with Mussorgsky as well as Scriabin.

Interestingly, Katayama mentions that Yamada came to the US in 1918–19 and conducted the New York Symphony Orchestra (now Philharmonic) twice in Carnegie-Hall concerts of his own music. What he does not relate is that Yamada’s desire to become established as a composer/conductor in the West was, ironically, apparently hindered by his fluency in Western compositional styles; American audiences wanted something exotic, and at this time Yamada’s music lacked Japanese character. By 1921, however, Yamada composed a symphony, Inno Meiji, that combined traditional Japanese instruments with a symphony orchestra, anticipating post-WW II trends, and whatever confluence of styles he might have subsequently devised remain so-far unheard by the bulk of non-Japanese listeners. Perhaps Naxos will document Inno Meiji, and some of Yamada’s later work. In the meantime, the historical and curiosity factors outweigh the sheer musical pleasures of this initial release.

Art Lange, FANFARE

Yamada: Symphony "Triumph & Peace," Madara No Hana, The Dark Gate / Yuasa, Ulster Orchestra

$19.99
CD

Naxos

Mar 01, 2004

8555350

PIANO TRIOS

Thorofon

Available as CD

$24.99

Dec 01, 1986

Classical Music

PIANO TRIOS

$24.99
CD

Thorofon

Dec 01, 1986

CTH2002