Robin Ticciat's deserved reputation as one fo the great Berliozian's of our age is evident on this recording, his second, with the award-winning Swedish Radio Symphony. Romeo et Juliette was considered a pinnacle of French Romanticism and a brilliant example of Berlioz's orchestral mastery. The piece is one of the most original conceptions of the 19th century - deftly poised between symphony and stage drama. Robin Ticciati fully communicates the range of Berlioz's imagination; he brings an innate understanding of the romanticism of the music and succeeds in delivering a performance that is brimming with color.

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REVIEW:

The sound pictures are precise and subtle. Katija Dragojevic is a gorgeously warm mezzo, and Alastair Miles a stentorian bass in the final Serment de réconciliation.

– Guardian (UK)

Robin Ticciati cements his reputation as an outstanding Berliozian this recording, ‘Berlioz: Les nuits d'été', which includes excerpts from Roméo & Juliette and La mort de Cléopâtre.

‘The clarity, coordination and spectrum of colour in the orchestra are spot-on for Berlioz.' -- Gramophone

‘Robin Ticciati, has lost no time in presenting his credentials as an outstanding Berliozian.' -- The Sunday Times

Though pianist Artur Pizarro's performances of the solo parts in Beethoven's Third, Fourth, and Fifth piano concertos are consistently superlative, it's not too much to say that the real draw here is not the soloist but the accompanists. Because as fine as Pizarro's virtuoso playing is, Charles Mackerras and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra turn in performances of such force, sensitivity, and balance that they may well be the finest accompaniments for these concertos ever recorded. Pizarro is a strong and supple soloist whose dramatic account on the Third Concerto, lyrical reading of the Fourth Concerto, and imperious elucidation of the Fifth Concerto show his firm grasp of the music's escalating rhetoric. But Mackerras, a seasoned and canny conductor, not only supports Pizarro unstintingly, but finds the orchestral accompaniments' depths and beauties by highlighting a solo cello in the Fourth's Finale, weaving wind lines in the Third's Largo and blending string sonorities in the Fifth's Adagio, thereby creating interpretations of ineffable rightness and profundity. Captured in amazingly life-like sound by Linn, these performances will be compulsory listening for anyone who appreciates the fine art of accompaniment.

-- All Music Guide

All around the world, critics cheered the SCO Wind Soloists’ previous album of Mozart Divertimenti: ‘superb in every way’ (Fanfare), ‘a joy from start to finish’ (Europadisc), ‘sparkles with joy and chuckles with good humor’ (BBC Radio 3 ‘Record Review’). Continuing to explore the Harmoniemusik repertoire, the Wind Soloists’ new recording features youthful, entertaining and brilliant music by a young man who took Vienna by storm in the 1790s: Ludwig van Beethoven. The underrated Octet is a technically challenging concert piece in the Mozart tradition, but with the flair and unpredictability of the young Beethoven. In the Sextet, Beethoven exploits the differing characteristics of each instrument to great effect with the SCO’s legendary interplay on full display. Another gem is the short but sweet Rondino, which is full of subtle details, exquisite melodies and exhilaratingly high-speed horn playing.

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Everything here comes from the composer's early years. The lively and light-hearted Sextet is crisply played, finding a happy balance between bucolic vigor and expressive delicacy.

– Gramophone

Markku Luolajan-Mikkola has a reputation for excellence and already has two Gramophone Awards. With a fan base to match, Luolajan-Mikkola is at the top of his game. In Luolajan-Mikkola’s Linn debut, he tackles the pinnacle of Bach’s productions for violinists: the Partitas and Sonatas. Luolajan-Mikkola transcribed these works for cello. His goal with this recording has been to encapsulate expression and emotion according to the character of each movement. A historically informed musician, he performs on baroque cello.

Review:

Luolajan-Mikkola is nothing if not resolute, and he seems to embrace the struggle as an expressive end in itself. His staunch approach to articulation is tricky to love, but the payoff comes in the slow movements: Sarabandes sung low and husky, unadorned, flawed, and beautiful.

– Guardian (UK)

The Dunedin Consort, under the direction of John Butt, cemented its reputation as outstanding Bach interpreters with this 2008 recording of the Matthew Passion. A critical success, the recording received multiple five star reviews and was named ‘Disc of the Month’ by Gramophone, ‘Building A Library: First Choice’ by BBC Radio 3’s ‘Record Review’ and one of the ‘5 Essential Works by Bach’ by BBC Music Magazine. What makes this recording unique is that Dunedin Consort presents the Matthew Passion with Bach’s final revisions of scoring, as performed around 1742 (its most familiar form is the 1736 version). John Butt and the Dunedin Consort recreate the instrumentation and vocal scoring that Bach employed to deliver a unique and historically informed recording; most striking is the use of eight principal voices (four in each of the two choirs). Matthew Passion, one of Bach’s most celebrated choral masterpieces, is an emotional and challenging musical experience delivered with style and insight by the Dunedin Consort.

September 2018 marks the start of Robin Ticciati’s second season as Music Director of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and the release of his second recording with his new orchestra. The partnership’s critically acclaimed debut of Debussy and Faure led MusicWeb International to comment: “[this] certainly whets the appetite for future releases from Robin Ticciati with the DSO Berlin.” This second all-French programme sees Magdalena Kožena return to perform a selection of songs by Henri Duparc alongside orchestral music by his fellow countryman Maurice Ravel. The popular Suite No. 2 from Ravel’s epoch-making ballet Daphnis et Chloe showcases Ticciati’s flair for highlighting intricacies of detail and colour; listen as the beautifully descriptive sunrise ('Lever du jour') bursts into vivid, multi-hued life. In Ravel’s Valses nobles et sentimentales Ticciati creates a well-paced, yet graceful, Impressionist swirl with clearly defined textures and shimmering orchestral colors. Duparc’s melodies, which Ravel himself described as 'works of genius', sound particularly opulent in their orchestral scoring; the warm tones of Kožena’s ravishing voice provide a perfect match.

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REVIEW:

This release is in every respect a significant achievement. Kožená, in glorious voice throughout, lets Duparc’s vocal lines do the work rather than edging towards declamation. It’s all utterly beguiling.

– Gramophone

Duo Pleyel releases its second album on Linn, following its ‘winning performances’ (BBC Music Magazine) of Schubert. Richard Egarr and Alexandra Nepomnyashchaya perform the complete original works for piano four-hands by the unjustly neglected composer Jan Ladislav Dussek. Born into a Bohemian musical family, Jan Ladislav led a colorful life, both personally and as a virtuoso. He was a much sought-after teacher and helped push forward the development of the piano. Before his death in 1812 (perhaps helped by a fondness for strong drink and rich food) he enjoyed the company of the great and the good from all walks of life and travelled widely throughout Europe. His somewhat roguish character led to him having to flee for his safety on at least two occasions. Once from Russia, where he was accused of participating in a plot against the Empress, and again from London, where a joint publishing venture (with his father-in-law and a certain Lorenzo Da Ponte) went bankrupt. Despite these dubious personal flaws, Dussek was an acclaimed and hugely important composer and pianist during his lifetime. Duo Pleyel offers you a delicious and hearty musical feast – it is time for Dussek to be back on the world’s musical menu.

Continuing their investigation into the wealth of forgotten Baroque music from Ireland, the Irish Baroque Orchestra and its Music Director Peter Whelan now explore music by Cousser and Purcell. Johann Sigismund Kusser or Cousser was a Hungarian composer who travelled to Dublin, via Germany, France and London. One of the most knowledgeable and respected operatic directors in Europe, he spent the last twenty years of his life in Dublin where he was ‘Chappel-Master of Trinity-Colledge’ and ‘Master of the Irish State Musick’ at Dublin Castle. His Serenata ‘The Universal Applause of Mount Parnassus’, given its premiere recording here, is an enormously colourful work composed for the birthday celebrations for Queen Anne in 1711. It is also the earliest extant example of operatic music composed in Dublin for Irish audiences. Purcell wrote his Ode ‘Great parent, hail!’ for the centenary of Trinity College Dublin in 1694 with a libretto by his collaborator and Trinity alum, Nahum Tate. This fascinating, little-known work contains some stunning music by Purcell. Its cautious tone delicately navigates the brittle political atmosphere in Dublin following the Glorious Revolution – the College having recently fallen for a time to the Jacobites. This recording will offer another huge surprise for those who know little of Ireland’s forgotten heritage in the art music.

This colorful journey across different times and places marks the first recording of Italian conductor Alessandro Crudele and the London Philharmonic Orchestra for Linn. At the helm of the flamboyant LPO the versatile conductor has recorded a compendium of programmatic works spanning the artistic life of Ottorino Respighi. Starting with one of his first masterpieces, the evocative and at times epic Pini di Roma is a botanical journey through Rome at different times of the day. The more impressionistic, travelogue Impressioni brasiliane, the result of a trip Respighi made in Brazil, is suffused with local music and culture and dates from the mature years of the composer. Much in the same vein, the late ballet Belkis, regina di Saba describes a Biblical voyage this time; the little-known work recounts the Queen’s route across the desert to meet Solomon, King of Israel, with whom she is in love.

Linn is delighted to announce a new collaboration with violinist Jonian Ilias Kadesha. This highly distinctive musician has worked with leading artists and orchestras such as Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Nicolas Altstaedt, Steven Isserlis and Patricia Kopatchinskaja to name but a few. For his debut album on Linn, he has recorded a high-flying recital of solo violin pieces spanning five centuries. One of the oldest pieces of music written for solo violin, Biber’s angelic and absolutely mesmerizing Passacaglia stands alongside Bach’s enduringly famous Second Partita, whose last movement is the starting point for the Ciaccona for Violin Solo by Swiss composer Helena Winkelman, which receives its first commercial recording here. Twentieth and twenty-first-century works by Schnittke, Kurtág and Lera Auerbach, all heavily inspired by Bach’s music, complete the program which augurs a fruitful partnership with a promising young talent.

Linn welcomes back lute virtuoso William Carter in a program of works by another virtuoso, Esaias Reusner (1636–79), who worked and performed across Europe. Born in Silesia, he was considered to be one of the best lute players of his time and his influence was extensive. ‘Some may be drawn to the brilliance and noise of thunder and lightning, but ever since my youth, the soft and sweet sonorities of noble music has been my only pleasure’, so writes Reusner in the preface of his major work, Delitiae testudinis. This collection, introspective in essence, is outstanding not just for its exceptional quality but because it contains the very first dance suites — for any instrument! – published in Europe. This sequence of dances (Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, Gigue) was a form used by virtually every Baroque composer who followed, including Bach and Handel. Carter has recorded three of these suites and also pieces from later publications, some of which are premiere recordings.

‘Lectures différentes’ is the brainchild of Kebyart, a young, energetic Spanish ensemble comprising four talented saxophonists who are revitalizing the way classical music is communicated. For its debut recording the group has unabashedly arranged works from the standard repertoire, creating new and refreshing accounts: from Stravinsky’s Pulcinella, a modern take on eighteenth-century music, to Joan Pérez-Villegas’s fantasy on García Lorca’s popular melodies Canciones antiguas españolas and Haydn’s string quartet Op. 33 No. 3. The program also includes the premiere recording of Eötvös’s own Lectures différentes. The idiosyncratic approach of the saxophones – enhanced by the ensemble’s own arrangements – highlights different facets of the works. Kebyart’s passion for chamber music and fresh approach to classical music led it to be selected as ECHO Rising Stars for the 2021/22 season. As part of the scheme, the ensemble will tour the most prestigious venues in Europe.

Following their acclaimed recording of Handel’s Rodelinda (BBC Music Magazine Recording of the Month, Gramophone Editor’s Choice), The English Concert and Harry Bicket continue their Handel series with a superb soloist line-up including Sophie Bevan, Iestyn Davies, Ashley Riches, Hugo Hymas and Lucy Crowe. Starting with an unusual verbal altercation between an Angel and Lucifer, Handel’s La Resurrezione is an extraordinary retelling of the three days between Christ’s death and resurrection which is unlike any other Passion or Oratorio. This journey centers around women, Mary Magdalene and Mary Cleophas, in a way that seems very modern, and which mirrors the ambiguities of their feelings in music that is completely original in concept and orchestration. The journey from grief, through hope, to love is wonderfully depicted. The message seems to be that grief is the price we pay for love; and that should be part of the narrative of our lives, not the defining moment.

Described by The Herald as Scotland’s leading modern symphonist, composer Thomas Wilson (1927–2001) was central to the renaissance of 20th-century music in Scotland. Wilson’s music was championed by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra throughout his life, so it is fitting that the RSNO has recorded a second volume of his symphonies to showcase the strength and inventiveness of his orchestral writing. Wilson’s Second Symphony reveals him to be a mature composer, full of intent and confident in his own style. Premiered in 1965 it is a tautly conceived work, darkly powerful in parts but full of color and lyricism. The Fifth Symphony was commissioned by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra for their 25th-anniversary season in 1998 and was to be Wilson’s final work. Inspired by the challenge of writing for smaller symphonic forces, Wilson created a piece full of dramatic energy contrasted with moments of breathtaking tranquility that stands apart from his other symphonies. Rory Macdonald returns to conduct the RSNO following the critical success of their recording of Wilson’s Third and Fourth Symphonies.