CD · 1 disc
This new studio recording contains three works for piano and orchestra that virtuoso pianist Orion Weiss and conductor Leon Botstein first performed in concert at the Bard Music Festival. Together, the three works span almost a century of musical Romanticism and are as different from one another as the generations they represent. In each piece, the virtuoso genre becomes a means by which the composer responds to a specific source of inspiration—in the first case (Korngold), a performer and family friend who had suffered a horrendous tragedy, in the second (Rimsky Korsakov), a venerated old master, and in the third (Chopin) a melody from a beloved opera.
REVIEWS:
All the performances on this album, featuring the brilliant pianist Orion Weiss, are excellent.
– New York Times
Thoroughly entertaining.
– BBC Music Magazine
CD · 2 discs
The musicians on this album are some of the best in Canada. Pianist Alain Lefèvre, Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra, and its conductor Alexander Shelley and composer Walter Boudreau have come together for the world premiere recording of Boudreau’s masterful Concerto de l’asile, a tribute to the playwright and poet Claude Gauvreau (1925-1971). A musical summit that will mark the history of contemporary music! In addition to this concerto, you will hear the classic Shéhérazade, Op. 35 by Nikolai Rimski-Korsakov. The orchestra and its conductor unfold an epic tableau from One Thousand and One Nights as they conjure to life the brilliant and cunning Scheherazade who emerges victorious in her resistance against the evil Shahriar. Splendid!
CD · 10 discs
The Mighty Handful, also known as The Five, were a group of prominent nineteenth century Russian composers who strived to produce a specifically ‘Russian’ style. The group consisted of Mily Balakirev, Cesar Cui, Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, and Alexander Borodin. The Russian Guitar Quartet has chosen works by The Mighty Handful for this new release, reviving the lost tradition of seven-string Russian guitar quartet. These accomplished performers, all with solo careers of their own, perform these arrangements with purpose and passion, leading the listener on a journey through nineteenth century St. Petersburg.
CD · 4 discs
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