Richard Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos is one of the early 20th century’s most peculiar operatic works. Its narrative derives from the famous myth of Ariadne, who is abandoned by Theseus on the island of Naxos and eventually falls in love with the god Bacchus. This opera is, however, preceded by an extensive modern prologue in which a young Composer finds himself tortured by egotistical artists complicating preparations for the opera’s production in an eternal struggle between comedy and high art. Set in the beautiful Teatro della Pergola in Florence, Matthias Hartmann’s 2022 production was a triumphant success both for its soloists and conductor Daniele Gatti in his first season as musical director at the Maggio Musicale Foundation.

Sueye Park is no stranger to solo violin recitals. After her recording of the Paganini Caprices (BIS-2282) and a recital entitled Journey through a Century (BIS-2492), both critically acclaimed, she brings us another solo project, Echoes of Exile, an undertaking that finds it's raison d'�tre in today's very turbulent times. Park offers us different perspectives on the topic of exile with works composed between the 1920s and 1950s, by great composers who left their country as a result of political circumstances as well as by others who went into their own inner exile. Two pieces by composers who left their native lands for artistic reasons, Enescu and Ysaye, frame three substantial and very contrasting works by composers forced into exile, either because their existence was threatened or because of a feeling of alienation within their respective countries. The works of Bartok and Ben-Haim show composers who, in their longing for their homelands, succeeded not only in emphasising the value of their culture even more strongly, but also in anchoring it within the environment into which they had entered. Zimmermann's sonata, with it's unique expressive language, evokes the concerns of a young composer in the devastated Germany of the post-war period.

The history of Scriabin’s piano music is like a condensed history of piano music, for his style changed perhaps more than any other composer during his life. It has been said that young Scriabin kept Chopin’s music under his pillow, and the early Preludes and Mazurkas certainly breathe the same heightened air of ardour and yearning. His journey from the traditional tonal harmony of these Chopinesque beginnings to his atonal ‘Mystic chord’ (based on fourths) is, however, a masterfully smooth one, best appreciated when taking the sum of his work into account. Born in 1947, long resident in London as a professor at the Royal College of Music,

Dmitri Alexeev entered the Moscow Conservatory at six years of age. A string of EMI recordings in the 80s established his reputation worldwide, but they included scant representation of one of his most ardent passions, the music of Scriabin, beyond the concertante Prometheus conducted by Riccardo Muti. Alexeev’s touch emulates the contemporary accounts of Scriabin’s own playing, which did not rely on power because of his slight build. Rather, he ‘captivated the listener through his ability to enhance his sound with an extraordinary range and gradation of color…his fingers seemingly plucked the sound from the piano keys…as if his hands flew over the keyboard barely touching it.’ Made between 2008 and 2019 in London and in the purpose-built Music Room at Champs Hill, home to many superlative modern chamber-music albums, these recordings won broad critical acclaim on their original publication. Their reissue at super-budget price makes an obvious first port of call for any listener looking to immerse themselves in the rich, heady world of Scriabin’s piano writing.

REVIEW:

Single-artist sets such as this are rarely satisfactory with their inevitable troughs and peaks. Here, for two reasons, is an exception: first, for any pianist to play the complete solo piano works of Scriabin (except for works without opus numbers) is a tremendously challenging undertaking; second, the pianist in question is one of today’s keyboard giants. Dmitri Alexeev must rank as one of the most under-the-radar great pianists currently active. Having won the Leeds Competition in 1975 (the first Russian to do so, beating Schiff and Uchida in the process) and enjoyed a high-profile international career for the following decades, Alexeev devotes much of his time to teaching (at the Royal College of Music) and sitting on competition juries. But great pianist he remains.

-- Gramophone

Richard Strauss's 'Arabella' is a lyric comedy that portrays hardships and obsessions in a society whose latebourgeois values are crumbling. An addiction to gambling has driven the family of cavalry officer Waldner into financial ruin, and their only hope for salvation lies in marrying off their daughter Arabella into a wealthy family. Strauss's orchestral opulence coupled with it's period Viennese setting has seen 'Arabella' perceived as a light-hearted comedy of errors, but Tobias Kratzer's multi-faceted production also explores the disunity between it's characters, spotlighting tensions that connect 19th-century Vienna to the present day.

Shortlisted for the Gramophone Awards!

Following their second BBC Music Magazine Award (for Respighi’s Roman Trilogy) and universal praise for their first concert (at the BBC Proms in 2021), Sinfonia of London and John Wilson turn to the orchestral works of Ravel for this their 6th studio album. Not only an outstanding pianist and one of France’s greatest composers, Maurice Ravel is acclaimed as one of the greatest orchestrators of all time. His unique ability to conjure the widest possible range of colors and textures from the orchestral palette is amply demonstrated on this album. The program opens with La Valse, conceived as a snapshot of 1850’s Vienna. The continuous sequence of waltzes becomes increasingly insistent until the sound is almost utterly overwhelming. Other ballets also feature – Ma Mère L’Oye (Mother goose) and the infamous Boléro, both recorded here for the first time in their original versions. Ravel’s orchestrations of his own own piano works complete the program: Valses nobles et sentimentales, Pavane pour une infante défunte and Alborada del gracioso, which demonstrates both Ravel’s fascination with Spanish sounds and culture, and the sheer virtuosity of orchestral playing from the Sinfonia of London.

REVIEW:

What really shines here is the illumination of so many coloristic permutations, sounding for all the world as if Ravel had just in this moment heard them.

-- Gramophone (Editor's Choice, March 2022)

This record contains the complete works for piano duo (piano 4-hands and 2 pianos) by Paul Hindemith (1895–1963). While Hindemith was foremost a violist, not a pianist, he knew his way around the piano, and this familiarity is reflected in his compositions for the instrument, all of a decent technical level and featuring great originality of expression. Even if he doesn’t immediately spring to pianists’ minds, he deserves to be included in the small group of innovators who significantly enhanced the piano repertoire in the early 20th century, in particular with his Suite 1922, three solo piano sonatas and Ludus Tonalis. Hindemith’s compositions for piano duo, while few in number, are significant and spread across the span of his career, providing snapshots of his various compositional phases. While the Walzer of 1916 are an output of Hindemith’s early training in composition, by 1921 his Ragtime already reflects an early-mature period during which he sought to define a personal style of his own that could be openly abrasive and irreverent. The final three works, on the other hand, present a fully mature composer with a gift for balanced construction.

Bien qu'Erik Satie soit principalement reconnu pour son oeuvre de compositeur et pianiste, ses ecrits poetiques sont a l'image de sa musique : souvent courts, empreints d'un humour absurde et d'une grande sensibilite melancolique. La voix profonde et le timbre captivant de Francois Marthouret, se mele ici aux harmonies delicates du piano de Christiane Gugger. La complicite sensible entre l'acteur et la pianiste, souligne toute la musicalite et l'inattendu de ces ecrits iconoclastes signes par l'un des plus grands precurseurs de son epoque Augustin BONDOUX / Patrick FReMEAUX Although Erik Satie is primarily known for his work as a composer and pianist, his poetic writings reflect the same qualities as his music: often brief, tinged with absurd humor and deep melancholic sensitivity. The deep voice and captivating tone of Francois Marthouret blend here with the delicate harmonies of Christiane Gugger's piano. The sensitive rapport between the actor and the pianist highlights the musicality and unpredictability of these iconoclastic writings by one of the greatest pioneers of his time. Augustin BONDOUX / Patrick FReMEAUX GNOSSIENNE N�2 ET JE SUIS Ne a HONFLEUR - GNOSSIENNE N�4 - JE REGRETTE - GNOSSIENNE N�3 - LA JOURNeE D'UN MUSICIEN - VALSE-BALLET. SPORTS ET DIVERTISSEMENTS - CHORAL INAPPeTISSANT - LA BALANcOIRE - LA CHASSE - LA COMeDIE ITALIENNE - LE ReVEIL DE LA MARIeE - COLIN MAILLARD - LA PeCHE - LE YACHTING - LE BAIN DE MER - LE CARNAVAL - LE GOLF - LA PIEUVRE - LES COURSES - LES QUATRE COINS - LE PICNIC - LE WATER-CHUTE - LE TANGO - LE TRAiNEAU - LE FLIRT - LE FEU D'ARTIFICE - LE TENNIS. MUSIQUE SUR L'EAU - FANTAISIE-VALSE - ECHANGE D'IDeE - OGIVE N�1 - LES PeRIMeS - GNOSSIENNE N�5 - LE VERTIGE - SEUL a LA MAISON. LETTRE a DEBUSSY - 20 JUILLET 1903 - 14 AO�T 1903 - 17 AO�T 1903. AVANT-DERNIeRES PENSeES - IDYLLE a DEBUSSY - AUBADE a PAUL DUCAS - MeDITATION a ALBERT ROUSSEL. MICHELET ET LES ANIMAUX - PIeCE FROIDE N�2 - L'ARTISTE ET L'ENNUI - GNOSSIENNE N�1 - MESDAMES MESDEMOISELLES MESSIEURS - JE TE VEUX LETTRE a SUZANNE VALADON 11 MARS 1893 - SON BINOCLE.

In her New York orchestral debut with conductor Philippe Entremont, Anna Petrova was praised for her "ultra-smooth playing style" [New York Fine Arts Examiner]. She is an assistant professor of piano at the University of Louisville, KY, holds a PhD in musicology from the Manhattan School of Music, and performs frequently as a soloist and chamber musician. The album presents the music of four composers: Sergey Rachmaninoff, Sergey Prokofiev, Alexander Scriabin, and Pancho Vladigerov. Three Russians and one Bulgarian, the music of whom spans a total of 50 years, from 1892 to 1942. “The heart is an ancestral metaphor… For example, it has been sometimes thought as the secret seat of courage or of intelligence; or as a hiding place for emotions; or as a breakable, fragile and precious object that we treasure; as a place from which sincere feelings emanate; as the locus of romantic desire; as the deep, summarizing content of a person… Also, in many languages, the word "heart" comes from either the Latin root cor/cordis, or from the Greek root kardia. That is, Spanish (corazon), French (coeur), and Italian (cuore), to give an example, take the Latin root, while German (Herz) and English (heart) take the Greek one (kardia). But what is most important for my present purposes here, and what these two roots share amongst each other, is their connection to the Indo-European root kr, which has the original sense of "vibrating." Indeed, the two consonants sound like that when pronounced together, like a gentle vibration. Krrr.... In this very sense, too, a heart is a vibrating object, a vibrating, secret, treasured place - just like I wanted the piano and my playing of it to be in this album - a dear object that secretly vibrates with the sounds of my music.” (Anna Petrova)

When we recorded this album, in March 2022, no-one could have imagined that it would be Bramwell Tovey’s last recording. Chandos Records would like to dedicate this recording to the memory of Bramwell Tovey, with whom the company had collaborated for over a decade; a versatile musician highly accomplished as both a composer and a conductor, immensely personable and humorous, who possessed an innate understanding of the qualities of his fellow orchestral musicians and quickly earned their respect and devotion. He shall be very sorely missed. Tovey and the BBC Concert orchestra capture the wit and charm of Poulenc’s music perfectly. Each piece sizzles with excitement, and the well-known pieces (the Sinfonietta and ballet Les Animaux modèles) are beautifully complemented by less frequently heard miniatures: ‘La Baigneuse de Trouville’ and ‘Discours du général’ from Les Mariés de la Tour Eiffel and ‘Pastourelle’ from L’Éventail de Jeanne.

REVIEWS:

Les Animaux modèles, in its complete version, is a real rarity… this score is an absolute masterpiece with an enchanting beauty of melodies, a finesse of orchestration and a poetic evocation of animals through an intelligent and subtle narration. In 40 minutes, this music is a marvel. Bramwell Tovey at the podium of a sharp and precise orchestra delivers a thoughtful and finely musical rigorous reading of content and form… The Sinfonietta is the ideal complement. Bramwell Tovey takes care of the lines and contours of this beautiful neo-classical tone score[.]

-- Crescendo

[Tovey] seems to gaze into the soul of the Sinfonietta … a deliciously refined account of Les animaux modèles… Astonishingly vivid Chandos engineering on a 'big-screen' soundstage.”

-- Hi-Fi News

Chandos collaborated with Bramwell Tovey for more than a decade and the music-making has his trademark naturalness and good humour. Not the most obvious farewell, perhaps, but in its avoidance of pomp and solemnity none the worse for that.

-- Gramophone

This is one of the most enchanting discs of Poulenc’s orchestral music that one could wish for. It is also a fitting tribute to the fine musicianship and inimitable style of the conductor Bramwell Tovey…The BBC Concert Orchestra are on sparkling form and respond unfailingly to Tovey’s direction with alert and characterful playing throughout this SACD. In all respects this release is an absolute winner – 74 minutes of captivating music performed with finesse and recorded in state-of-the-art sound. Who could ask for more?

-- HRAudio.net

…here the late Bramwell Tovey has the full measure of these pieces, finding every ounce of their piquancy and weight – and in a recording in which in its forensic detail registers with total faithfulness. Tovey and the BBC Concert Orchestra revel in the charm, wit and humor of some of Poulenc’s finest orchestral pieces…

-- CDChoice.co.uk

An excellent disc of some lesser-known Poulenc, very well performed and splendidly recorded.

-- MusicWeb International

Nothing is as it appears in the old English manor house of Bly. A new governess takes up her post and discovers that the children who are her new charges are under the influence of the ghosts of the previous governess and her depraved lover. As one disturbing event unfolds after another, the questions become more pressing: What horrors happened here before her arrival? Are the children innocent? Do we really see what we are seeing?

Based on Henry James’s strange ghost story, Benjamin Britten’s The Turn of the Screw is a psychological thriller in the form of a chamber opera. The Orchestre de la Monnaie, under the British conductor Ben Glassberg, took up this masterpiece in a staging which, despite the Covid crisis, received rave reviews. We now present a version recorded in studio conditions immediately after the performances. The two leading singers, Ed Lyon and Sally Matthews, are utterly convincing: together they push the audience’s imagination to unbearable levels of tension…

Mody is a very good pianist and a joyful musician: he masters the technical problems with esprit, his pedaling is pleasingly lean, but above all he has an extremely colourful sound spectrum and an imaginative, improvisational approach to Scriabin's inner worlds." Klassik-heute "Pervez Mody is an extraordinary musician and a unique artist" Martha Argerich, 2009

In this recital, prize-winning Canadian pianist Jaeden Izik-Dzurko explores the evolving language, dramatic breadth and technical daring of Alexander Scriabin's piano works. The album charts the remarkable evolution of Scriabin's musical language from his earliest pieces, to the sensual, volatile Piano Sonata No. 5, which stands at the summit of Scriabin's creative trajectory. As a resonant counterpart, Izik-Dzurko plays Rachmaninov's brooding Piano Sonata No. 1 in D minor. A digital-only release of four early piano works by Scriabin is also available on 9.70408.

The masterpiece 'beyond Time' that is the Quatuor pour la fin du Temps first saw the light of day in Barrack 27 of the World War II prisoner-of-war camp Stalag VIII-A in Gorlitz, Silesia, performed by it's composer Olivier Messiaen on piano along with fellow prisoners Jean Le Boulaire on violin, Henri Akoka on clarinet and etienne Pasquier on cello. The unusual ensemble forces were dictated by what musicians were available in that environment of deprivation, and the prisoners' coping mechanisms in response to it played a part: Akoka's clarinet and the singing of birds during dawn watches with Pasquier inspired the 3rd movement, Ab�me des oiseaux for solo clarinet. As Messiaen himself explained before the concert, it is the first six verses of the Book of Revelation Chapter 10 that inform the piece as a whole. Starvation in the camp had provoked in him vivid, colourful dreams of the Angel's Rainbow, and the End of Time represented eternity in the face of the mortality confronting the internees. The sensory deprivation he experienced while imprisoned caused (or exacerbated) his synaesthesia, such that his hearing of harmonies and his vision of colours became blended in his mind. The work's difficulty is well known; in Gorlitz, from musicians already unbalanced by Messiaen's unconventional rhythms, the composer demanded extreme and unusual instrumental effects: dynamic extremes, unheard-of force and maximum precision. Clarinettist Akoka complained about overly high notes and long phrases; violinist Le Boulaire about wide, inhumanly slow string melodies. But Messiaen's serenity at the piano instilled confidence, making the impossible possible and raising everything to a higher level. On a formal level, the eight movements of the Quatuor, linked by symbolic correspondences, reflect the biblical perfection of the number seven: the six days of Creation followed by the day of Rest, which is prolonged into Eternity becoming an eighth of indefectible light and unalterable peace. 'I composed this quartet to escape from snow, from war, from imprisonment and from myself,' Messiaen said. But the religious silence that enveloped the premiere demonstrated the Quatuor's ability to raise everyone in it's first audience along with him, above the barbarity, hunger and cold. Today, hearing this music that is 'alien to earthly beauty and pervaded by the idea of God', we perceive it's essence 'beyond Time', imbued with faith and religiosity. Other information: - Recorded February 2018, February 2019 and December 2023 in Perugia - Booklet in English contains liner notes by Donatella Meneghini and biographical information on the artists - Italian liner notes available at brilliantclassics. Com - Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) composed his Quatuor pour le fin du temps" (Quartet for the End of Time) 1940-41. The work was written during Messiaen's internment at Stalag VIII-A, a German prisoner-of-war camp, where he was held during World War II. Despite the harsh conditions, Messiaen composed this eight-movement piece for a unique ensemble: clarinet, violin, cello, and piano, which were the instruments available in the camp. - Inspired by the biblical Book of Revelation, particularly the angel's proclamation of the end of time, the Quatuor explores themes of eternity, divine grace, and apocalyptic vision. Messiaen, a devout Catholic, saw time as transcended by divine love, and the piece reflects his fascination with spiritual and mystical concepts. - The music is known for it's otherworldly beauty, complex rhythms, and innovative use of modes of limited transposition, which create a timeless, suspended feeling. The movements range from intense, fiery expressions of divine might to serene, meditative reflections on eternity. Premiered within the camp before an audience of prisoners and guards, Quatuor pour le fin du temps remains one of the most important and profound chamber works of the 20th century. - Played by Davide Bandieri, Francois Sochard, Joel Marosi and Maria-Liisa Marosi. - Davide Bandieri has already successfully released numerous recordings for Brilliant Classics, including the Complete Chamber Music Works for Clarinet by Von Weber (BC 95531) and, together with Joel Marosi and Maria-Liisa Marosi, Clarinet Trios by Fruhling and Zemlinsky (BC 95394).

Explore the power and depth of Shostakovich's cello concertos with Alexander Kniazev and Kazuki Yamada. Kniazev's profound understanding of Shostakovich's music brings out the intricate layers of anguish, irony, and resilience that define the composer's voice. Yamada's energetic and insightful conducting adds a vivid dimension to the orchestral textures. Together, they deliver a recording that captures the dark intensity and emotional richness of Shostakovich's music, offering a compelling listening experience.

For this, the fifth instalment of his Shostakovich symphony cycle, John Storgards turns to some of the earliest of the composer's orchestral output, works which Shostakovich largely wrote during his student years. The orchestral scherzo was a favourite task set by composition tutors of the time: the relatively simple form still demands that the student produce contrasting material for the outer and central sections, and manage the transitions effectively. Unsurprisingly, the form looms large in the early works of Shostakovich, as well as Stravinsky, Bartok, and many others. The two examples recorded here show the young composer's ability and style, although not yet perhaps a distinct compositional voice. They do both share links with the later First Symphony, however, which was composed as a graduation test in composition from the Petrograd Conservatoire. Shostakovich spent two years working on it, but the Symphony he eventually produced was an instant success, marking him out as a Boy Wonder among Soviet composers. Written four years later, the Third Symphony evidences not only the rapid development of Shostakovich as a composer, but the equally rapid change in the world he inhabited. He passed the newly required examination in Marxist ideology in December 1926, and managed to extend his registration as a postgraduate student at Leningrad Conservatoire until early 1930. He submitted the symphony with the explanation that it 'expresses the festive spirit of peaceful construction'. At this early stage of the first of Stalin's Five-Year Plans, he already demonstrated his realisation that political spin would be crucial to his creative survival.

Santtu conducts Shostakovich: Symphony No. 10 is the fifth album from Philharmonia Records. Largely interpreted as depicting Stalin's regime in Russia, the orchestra delivers tragedy, violence and gloom before the brief but triumphant finale. Conducted by Santtu-Matias Rouvali, this performance was recorded at Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall in April 2024.

The Quatuor Voce presents Poétiques de l’instant, a long-term project and a diptych of recordings that aim to combine two of the key works in the repertory of any string quartet – the masterpieces of Debussy and Ravel – with other pieces of music and new compositions. This first instalment focuses on Debussy’s Quartet and the Quatuor Voce has enlisted a young composer, Yves Balmer, for the works that revolve around it: he has arranged the Proses lyriques song cycle and has also composed a new piece, Fragments soulevés par le vent. To record this program, the quartet has chosen to perform alongside three exceptional artists, the soprano Jodie Devos, the flautist Juliette Hurel and the harpist Emmanuel Ceysson.

George Antheil called himself a ‘Pianist-Futurist’. A lover of speed, cars and airplanes, the American composer settled in the Paris of the Années Folles, where he frequented Picasso shows and Stravinsky concerts, and composed works such as the Sonate sauvage and Jazz Sonata, which caused a scandal: during a concert in Budapest, he even brandished a pistol to restore silence in the hall . . . He hero-worshipped Beethoven, whose pieces he played in the first part of his recitals before moving onto his own music. In 1933, he returned to the United States, where he met John Cage and Morton Feldman. Patricia Kopatschinskaja and the young Finnish pianist Joonas Ahonen – whom The Times, following what the journalist described as ‘one of those concerts you remember for ever’, presented as the violinist’s ‘doppelgänger’! – pay tribute to the self-proclaimed ‘Bad Boy of Music’.

Critical acclaim from the New York Times:

"George Antheil (1900-59) was a technophilic, self-declared bad boy of music; regardless of whether that’s true, he didn’t please his way into the canon. Here, however, this American composer gets a tribute that places him in a lineage of innovators from Beethoven to the mid-20th century — traced by the daredevil violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja and an enthusiastic partner in the pianist Joonas Ahonen.

"...Antheil would perform his works alongside, say, something from a century earlier, and Kopatchinskaja and Ahonen do the same by programming Beethoven’s Violin Sonata No. 7 in C minor. It is a fiery and freely interpreted account reminiscent of Gidon Kremer and Martha Argerich’s fearless, unpredictable, at times unwieldy recordings from the 1990s.

"Like the Beethoven, the Antheil is in four movements, but it blends traditional form with a thoroughly modern sound that, in this reading, bustles at a breakneck pace with percussive and metallic timbres. Looking beyond Antheil’s generation, the album also includes pieces by Morton Feldman and a nocturne by John Cage, works that subtly recall the sonatas but also stand alone as studies in sound-making and extremity — of strength and softness, of overtone-rich expanses. Executed with discipline that borders on mechanical, they couldn’t be better suited to a world according to George." --The New York Times (Joshua Barone)

Continuity. The piece "October" from Tchaikovsky's "Seasons" op. 37 comes from an older recording by Evgeni Koroliov from 1992 (TACET 25). That was the time of the Yugoslav Wars and the collapse of the Soviet Union. I remember that Evgeni Koroliov, who was born in Moscow, spoke during a break in his gentle manner about how this music was for him a reminder of irretrievable times before the Russian revolution. 33 years later, Koroliov speaks as he did then, he has remained true to himself and his playing, the times are just as confused and uncertain. Even the sound is similar. Accordingly, the new recordings on this "Russian" CD are permeated by a similar longing for a better world, which never existed as beautifully as in this music. I am happy and grateful to have been able to accompany this quiet and expressive artist, who enriches the music world so lastingly, on TACET for such a long time. This is already his 26th recording on TACET and the second CD this year, the second of three!

Throughout his lifetime, Gustav Mahler's musical imagination got sparked by the Wunderhorn anthology of folk poetry compiled by Achim von Arnim and Clemens Brentano. Whether autonomous lieder or conscripted into symphonic service, Mahler’s Wunderhorn settings represent some of his most exotic, exhilarating, but also visionary music. The Wunderhorn songs evoke and celebrate a lost era but they also prefigure its demise. Mahler captures this ambiguity in uncompromisingly melodious and idyllic, but also satiric, relentless and cruel music. In this soundtrack from the movie WUNDERHORN by Clara Pons, baritone Dietrich Henschel, “a towering figure, physically, intellectually, musically and theatrically” (Herald Scotland) gives a vibrant rendition of 24 Lieder from Gustav Mahler’s “Des Knaben Wunderhorn”, masterly accompanied by the Bochumer Symphoniker under the baton of Steven Sloane.

Shortlisted for the Gramophone Awards!

Following her triumphs on the stages of the Salzburg and Bayreuth festivals and at Covent Garden, Asmik Grigorian now belongs to the world’s vocal elite. She joins Alpha Classics for several projects and presents here her very first recital, devoted to one of her favorite composers, Sergei Rachmaninov. This album, titled Dissonance, assembles vocal works carefully chosen by the soprano for the contrasts they generate when grouped together: ‘Most of Rachmaninov’s songs really call for operatic power. In fact, he wrote mini-operas lasting a few minutes.’ While this album is called Dissonance, in reference to the ‘internal conflicts’ that punctuate these songs, the duo formed by the Lithuanian singer and her pianist compatriot Lukas Geniušas is one of total consonance!

"[Grigorian's] powers of expression are as fierce in front of the microphone as they are on the stage...Her tone at its fullest, all velvet-wrapped steel, gleams with enough edge to cut through anything a full-throttle Rachmaninov piano part can throw at it, and Geniušas does not give the impression of holding back[.] As a duet partner, he’s just soloistic enough, with an attentive ear for the detail of what Grigorian wants to achieve with the shape of a phrase.

"The program, in a sequence chosen by the performers, ranges from some of the Op. 4 songs Rachmaninov wrote as a student to his Op. 34. Some last barely 90 seconds, but here they still seem like a scene rather than merely a song – a panoramic view, not a snapshot. Grigorian and Genušias will make you wonder why you don’t hear them more often." -The Guardian

"There’s a palpable energy between the [performers] on this recording. [Grigorian] unfurls her otherworldly quality—what Barrie Kosky once called 'Planet Grigorian'—like a banner; [Geniušas] provides the breeze to hold it aloft. By no means are the songs on Dissonance calm or gentle, but Grigorian and Geniušas handle them lovingly." -Van Magazine

This is not the ninth 5th, but still the fifth 9th symphony by András Keller with Concerto Budapest on TACET! After Bruckner, Dvořák, Shostakovich and Schubert (it now counts as the 8th), now Mahler. An impressive testament to the range of this unusual orchestra and its unique conductor. Certainly there are countless other recordings, also very good, of these last finished symphonies of great composers. However, I find that Keller's interpretations, with his unconditional will to express in detail, can compete with any, even the best known. Recordings of that repertoire in TACET Real SS are completely new. They bring to light previously hidden beauties and place the listener in the middle of the music. This also allows you to hear these works in a completely new way.

The first collaboration on record of long-time recital partners Viktoria Mullova and Katia Labèque. Ranging from the Schubert Fantasy of 1827 to Stravinsky’s 1933 Suite Italienne, this fascinating programme spans a tremendously exciting 100 years, in which music changed radically, rapidly, and irreversibly. These works demonstrate the massive alterations wrought in those years; the contrast between the Romanticism of Schubert and Clara Schumann, and the innovation of Ravel and Stravinsky. Yet Stravinsky’s use of Baroque music and Ravel’s appropriation of jazz show that the 20th century embraced diverse influences, including those of the past. Viktoria Mullova and Katia Labèque have played this recital together many times, and, as is clear from this recording, relish each composer’s distinctive approach to writing for violin and piano. This is a re-release of the original 2006 production.

Joseph Keilberth (1908-68) was, according to Brigitte Fassbaender, "the most aesthetic, most natural, most serene of all conductors". Martha Mödl "always found him the greatest", for Hermann Prey "he was and is the trend-setting musician of my singing life" and for Inge Borck simply "the singer’s conductor". He was an exemplary incarnation of the ideal virtues of the German Kapellmeister and died far too early at the conductor's podium during a 'Tristan' performance. His recordings of works by Reger, Pfitzner and Hindemith are legendary for the transparent and vital realization of their complex structures.

Among the archival treasures of the Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra (now the WDR Symphony Orchestra), unsurpassed recordings of complex 20th-century masterpieces (1923-62) have been selected for this double album, decisively enriching the orchestral repertoire. Album 1 features the Concerto grosso for double orchestra and piano, the singular pioneering work by Heinrich Kaminski, the mystical master of the new polyphony, as well as Reinhard Schwarz-Schilling's Partita, which timelessly transforms the Bachian tradition. On album 2, two recording premieres by Karl Höller (1907-87) are followed by late Hindemith, Keilberth's favourite composer: Agnes Giebel sings the 6 songs from 'Ein Marienleben', and Anton Heiller, the soloist of the premiere performance under Hindemith, plays in the late organ concerto.

In 1925 France's most famous musical rebel and pioneer died in the Saint-Joseph hospital in Paris from an excess of drinking. His name: Eric Satie, a French composer and pianist, born on May 17, 1866, in Honfleur, France. The most important image that posterity has retained of Satie is that of a humorist, a whimsical composer devoted to provocation, extravagance and the absurd. He is best known for his unique and often eccentric musical style, his unconventional approach to music, incorporating elements of humor and absurdity into his compositions. He often rejected the traditional norms of classical music, leading to a more avant-garde style, which laid the groundwork for modern music and influenced many composers, including John Cage. Satie's most famous works include "Gymnopedies" and "Gnossiennes, " characterized by their simplicity, innovative harmonies, and atmospheric quality. Satie passed away in 1925. - Hakon Austbo plays Satie's Gymnopedies and Gnossiennes, bringing his unique interpretation to the composer's timeless pieces. - Recorded in May-July 1999, Remonstrantse Gemeente, Deventer, The Netherlands.

Simon Callaghan & Hiroaki Takenouchi write: “As long ago as the eighteenth century, composers were arranging orchestral works for two pianos or for piano duet, making them more domestically accessible and exposing their compositions to a wider audience. Four-hand piano versions abound of symphonies by Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Schumann, Haydn and more. Since Rachmaninoff focused mainly on the piano, we were surprised to be unable to find a two-piano arrangement by the composer himself of his Symphony No. 2, particularly since he arranged his own first and third symphonies for four hands. Such was the popularity of the Second Symphony that Vladimir Wilschau (1868-1957) created a four hands arrangement in 1910, just two years after the premiere in St Petersburg under the composer’s baton. Our objective in creating this new arrangement was to remain as faithful to the original as practically possible. We set out to embrace not only the capabilities of the two pianos but also their limitations – we wanted to create a true piano work, rather than a less-than-satisfactory imitation of the orchestral version. Of course, our motivation was also to be able to enjoy playing this magnificent masterpiece which we had cherished for as long as we could remember!”

In the year 2007 pianist and composer Alexander Warenberg reworked Rachmaninoff's second symphony into a full scale piano concerto. Ever since this works gained popularity and recognition as a new repertoire work, having been performed by acclaimed soloists and orchestras all around the world. Alexander Warenberg tackled the seemingly ludicrous task of changing the iconic second symphony into a work with an important piano part. Warenberg has meticulously reworked the four movements of the symphony into the regular three movements of Rachmaninoff's concertos. In this process the piece has been reduced by some 40% and several necessary re-orchestrations have been carried out. The result is more than just an interesting experiment, this spectacular, virtuoso concerto shows off Warenberg's unique talent as a 're-composer', and it conquered the hearts of those who love their Rachmaninoff. Pianist Wolfram Schmitt-Leonardy took it upon himself to familiarize himself with this entirely new score. And so did conductor Theodore Kuchar with the Janacek Philharmonic Orchestra. Their brilliant performance is a truly romantic one. The score is published by Boosey & Hawkes. A treat for any Rachmaninoff and piano lover!

SOMM RECORDINGS continues its acclaimed Vaughan Williams Live series celebrating the 150th anniversary of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ birth with Volume 4 featuring his signature Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis, the Concerto for Two Pianos and Eighth Symphony in recordings conducted by Dimitri Mitropoulos and Sir John Barbirolli. The Tallis Fantasia is a live recording from Carnegie Hall in 1943 with Mitropoulos, a committed advocate for Vaughan Williams’ music, conducting the New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra. They are also heard in the Concerto for Two Pianos, again from Carnegie Hall in 1952, when the soloists were Arthur Whittemore and Jack Lowe, who forged a widely popular and critically acclaimed piano duo partnership in America in the middle of the last century. Recorded in Manchester’s Free Trade Hall in 1964, the Symphony No.8 is blazingly conducted by its dedicatee, Sir John Barbirolli, leading the Hallé Orchestra.

Somm Recordings celebrates the 150th anniversary of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ birth with Vaughan Williams Live, Volume 3, featuring signature works conducted by the composer including the 1943 world premiere of his Fifth Symphony with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. All performances on this double-album set have been expertly restored and re-mastered by Lani Spahr.

SOMM Recordings’ celebration of the 150th anniversary of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ birth continues with Volume 2 of Vaughan Williams Live, featuring historic performances by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus and the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Adrian Boult in new, signature remasterings by Lani Spahr with authoritative booklet notes by Vaughan Williams’ biographer Simon Heffer. Two works featuring the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus include a 1945 BBC radio broadcast of the first performance of the wartime masterpiece Thanksgiving for Victory – with soprano Elsie Suddaby, organist George Thalben-Ball and Valentine Dyall as the speaker – and the rapturous Serenade to Music from the opening night of the BBC’s Third Programme (now Radio 3) in 1946. First performed in 1938 in celebration of Henry Wood’s jubilee as a conductor and originally composed for 16 solo singers, it appears here in its version for orchestra, chorus and four soloists – Isobel Baillie (soprano), Astra Desmond (contralto), Beveridge White (tenor), and Harold Williams (baritone). Its dedicatee, Boult, conducts a performance of Job: A Masque for Dancing in 1946 by the Boston Symphony Orchestra before he made his four studio recordings of the work. Volume 1 of Vaughan Williams Live (SOMM Ariadne 5016) was hailed by All About the Arts as “beautifully remastered [and] sounding like pure gold” and was The Symphonist’s Record of the Week. SOMM’s other Vaughan Williams recordings include the Gramophone Award-winning Symphony No.5 and Dona Nobis Pacem with the LPO/BBCSO (SOMMCD 071), and The Piano Music of Ralph Vaughan Williams by Mark Bebbington and Rebecca Omordia (SOMMCD 0164), described by International Piano as “compelling”.