Both accomplished musicians based in Bayreuth, Anna Bon and Wilhelmine von Bayreuth devoted a significant part of their output to the flute, the instrument of choice of Frederick II. Their sonatas reveal a marked taste for bold harmonies and a remarkable sense of invention. Several decades earlier, �lisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre had already dazzled the court of Louis XIV with her violin sonatas, described by the Sun King as "very beautiful" and above all "original, a quality found all too rarely today." Too rarely performed, these works find in Marta Gawlas, in her first solo album, a sensitive and inspired interpretation, fully equal to their uniqueness and poetic depth.

The Curious Bards immerse us in the 18th-century popular music of Ireland and Scotland, with reels, jigs, songs and dances that circulated in the oral tradition and in print, from the airs of Turlough O'Carolan to the great collections of the period. Impelled by an irresistible energy and underpinned by historical research, this album restores the vitality of this music that lives for the dance, for the preservation of folk memory, and for sharing with others.

This release features Mahler’s First Symphony in a historically informed performance that features a large, modern orchestra and includes the Blumine movement, which was part of the original version of the symphony, the one preferred by the conductor, Sir Roger Norrington. With the inclusion of the Blumine, the listener can appreciate the return of pastoral motifs in the finale movement. Mahler’s First symphony, sometimes titled “Titan,” was written mostly in February and March of 1888, incorporating music that had been written much earlier. The first performance wasn’t well received, but after several revisions over the following years the work has become a staple in symphonic repertoire. Originally, Mahler called the work a “Symphonic Poem in two parts.” But finally he began to refer to the work as a symphony.

Dialog: Ich und Du; The Wrath of God; The Light of the End - Vadim Repin, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Andris Nelsons, Sofia Gubaidulina We celebrate the 90th birthday of Sofia Gubaidulina, one of the leading composers of today, with three profound and spiritual orchestral works, all of which have been recorded for the first time. Andris Nelsons conducts the Gewandhausorchester Lepzig, featuring soloist Vadim Repin, who is the dedicatee of violin concerto Dialog: Ich und Du. Deutsche Grammophon

This recording brings together recent choral works by British-Swiss composer Jessica Ulusoy-Horsley exploring sound, silence, and the spaces between them, performed by Tenebrae under Nigel Short. The programme includes the work Engelsmusik, inspired by writings on angelic music which draw on texts by Rumi, Greek liturgy, and spiritual philosophy. At it's centre is the large-scale work The 99 Names, setting Arabic and Aramaic texts from Islamic and Christian traditions, and finishing with Cycle of Peace, responding to contemporary conflict. Together, the works examine listening, stillness, and shared spiritual experience across cultures.

Bennett was acknowledged both in England and Germany as an outstanding pianist, and his finest and most characteristic music was composed for his own instrument. As well as numerous works for solo piano, including two sonatas, he composed six piano concertos and a single-movement Caprice for piano and orchestra. He gave public performances of all his works for piano and orchestra with himself as soloist. It was during the heady days of Bennett's third long visit to his friends in Leipzig, from January to March 1842, that he mentioned in correspondence that he was working on a new concerto, which he hoped to perform before leaving for London. In the event, this did not happen, but a substantial amount of work must have been done at this stage on what was to become the unpublished Piano Concerto No. 6 in A minor, WO 48. Bennett did further work on the concerto in the summer of 1843 and hoped to publish it, but changes to his personal circumstances contributed towards further delays. His son claimed that he always intended it to be published, but as the years passed, the more out-of-date it became.

'When I'm composing, not only have I to create music, I must also search for the best way of putting it across. It means being on the alert the whole time; writing - then criticizing what I've written - and if it won't do, scrap it and start again - more criticism - and so on until I've done everything within my power to make the music live and flow naturally'. These insights from Grace Williams into her approach to the compositional process show her strong desire to communicate fluently and sincerely with her listeners. Also evident from this quotation is her professionalism, technical integrity and formidable capacity for self-criticism. She held herself and her art to the highest standards, withdrawing and destroying scores which failed to live up to her ideals. It can be inferred from this that she regarded the works which survived elimination as worthy of her musical legacy.

HANSEL & GRETEL

Their fourth release with Navona Records, OPENINGS by the Jitro Czech Girls Choir and conductor Jirí Skopal presents the rich beauty of the Czech Republic’s national dances, folk texts, and songs for audiences around the world. Composer Bohuslav Martinu believed that music holds the power to open our minds to a new, transcendent understanding of time, nature, and tradition. The first piece on OPENINGS, Primrose does so with buoyant joy. The bright, airy timbre of the children’s choir is radiant, with lyrics that conjure up pastoral images of the beautiful Czech countryside. From the Czech word “petrklíc,” Primrose symbolizes Saint Peter’s key which opens the earth each spring as the ice and snow of winter recede. Next comes Songs for a Children’s Choir, composed by Martinu in Switzerland during 1959—the last year of his life. The piece borrows texts from collections of Czech folk songs and poetry, employing the tight, sculpted harmonies of Jitro. The album’s final track, Opening of Spring, relates the story of a springtime queen, laden with flowers, followed through the country hills by a procession of townspeople. OPENINGS is an apt title for this newest album by the Jitro Czech Girls Choir, not only because of its focus on spring and renewal, but also because it offers a portal through which listeners of all backgrounds may appreciate and enjoy the beauty of Czech culture. With technical precision and infectious exuberance, the girls of Jitro lovingly offer the songs and stories of their people to all who listen.

Ravel: Bolero - Rapsodie espagnole - La valse - Ma mère l'oy

Whatever your views on the music or the performance, that this recording exists at all is an extraordinary story, and due congratulations must be offered to the hard work and dedication of all involved, in particular of Jennifer Condon. Her “normal” job is as a prompter at the Hamburg Opera, but she has been responsible for editing this previously unpublished work, preparing it for performance, persuading a large and distinguished cast to take part, in some cases without any remuneration, as well as conducting the performance. This shows a commitment to the work that may seem eccentric to the cynical but heroic to others who have laboured in vain on behalf of other similarly neglected works.
 
Peggy Glanville-Hicks was an Australian composer whose teachers included Vaughan Williams, Egon Wellesz and Nadia Boulanger, who was married for a time to Stanley Bate, another neglected composer, and who spent twenty years in New York before moving to Greece and finally back to Australia. Her other works include the opera The Transposed Heads, commissioned by the Louisville Orchestra and recorded by them in the 1950s and in 1984 by the West Australian Symphony Orchestra. I have listened many times to both recordings with increasing pleasure so that I have been very eager to hear the present discs.
 
Sappho is a setting of an adaptation by the composer of a verse play by Lawrence Durrell. It tells of the Lesbian (but not lesbian) poet Sappho in her latter years when she was married to a wealthy local merchant, Kreon. The various scenes show her with the twin brothers, Pittakos and Phaon, with her tutor, Minos, and with Diomedes, a drunken poet. Towards the end she is exiled to Corinth on a false charge of incest. Her final monologue, the only part of the opera to have been publicly performed, is the clear climax of the opera, with Sappho accepting the impermanence of personal relationships as well as of her own life. It mirrors similar scenes at the end of operas by Strauss and Janácek, albeit that it is very different in its musical style. That style derives to a great degree from the composer’s attempt to reduce the importance of harmony in music, and to throw the emphasis instead on texture and tone, melody and heterophony. The result may seem a little bland at first but the listener soon adjusts to the composer’s very individual style.
 
A quick glance at the cast list shows several distinguished Wagnerian singers. Very surprisingly that appears to have been a necessity due to the weight of some of the orchestration. The conductor’s note indicates that she believes that with adjustment to dynamics and some of the orchestration it could be performed on a smaller scale, and I have to say that this would be welcome. In fact the ideal might be to retain the Wagner-sized voices but allow them to sing at somewhat less than full power. That would permit a more nuanced approach to performance and a more natural delivery of the, admittedly somewhat flowery, text. I am full of admiration for the cast here, who have taken on a major new work with obvious enthusiasm, but it has to be admitted that for much of the time there is a lack of any attempt at light or shade in their singing. The many singers for whom English is not their first language cope well but it cannot be said that the result sounds idiomatic. Admittedly the results in the case of the English-speaking artists are not all that much better, and although I attempted to follow what was being sung without it after a while I found myself wholly dependent on the printed libretto to understand what was being said or even who was saying it.
 
Sappho is by no means as immediately attractive as is The Transposed Heads, partly due to an apparent preponderance of slow or slowish music, but enough is revealed through this very welcome issue to suggest that subject to the preparation of a performance edition that would make it kinder to singers and to a greater familiarity with the work it would certainly merit stage performance. In the meantime we should once again thank Jennifer Condon for her untiring efforts to make it possible to hear the work and all the singers and players who helped her in this. Congratulations also to Toccata Classics whose presentation of the issue, with essays on the work, the edition, Durrell and Sappho, together with the full libretto, does all that could be done to help the listener and encourage understanding of this important discovery.
 
-- John Sheppard, MusicWeb International

There is hardly a better way to approach Ludwig van Beethoven than through his piano concertos. Beethoven’s own instrument was the piano, and in his improvisations – which made him the darling of the Viennese salons – he merged virtuosity and unbridled expression. The piano concertos give a clear idea of these performances. At the same time, they are prime examples of Beethoven’s ability to create large orchestral works with seemingly endless arcs of tension. One of the most revered artists of our time, Mitsuko Uchida is known as a peerless interpreter of the works of Mozart, Schubert, R. Schumann and Beethoven, as well for being a devotee of the piano music of Alban Berg, Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern, and György Kurtág.

Joe Hisaishi - "Joe Hisaishi Conducts The End Of The World; Reich: The Desert Music". Joe Hisaishi's new album blends cinematic sound worlds with the spellbinding power of a live performance experience. Recorded in 2024 at Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Hisaishi's album features the maestro's original piece "The End of the World" and Steve Reich's "Desert Music," performed with the Futures Orchestra Classics and the Philharmonic Chorus of Tokyo. Now in it's seventh volume, the "JOE HISAISHI FUTURE ORCHESTRA CLASSICS" series highlights Joe Hisaishi's signature versatility, precision and passion. 2 LP set, gatefold jacket.

BAROQUE CONCERTOS (FAMOUS)

Peter Heise (1830-1879) is Denmark's peerless master of song, yet his string quartets lived for decades in the shadows. This complete 3-CD set brings together the Nordic String Quartet's entire survey, including world-premiere recordings of Nos. 1-6. Alongside the previously released first volume, these works reveal Heise's musical imagination in all it's brilliance, performed with a spacious, lyrical sensibility attuned to the composer's distinctive poetic touch.

The Flemish Music Heritage series is a journey of discovery, reviving remarkable pieces of musical heritage. Forgotten scores are brought to light, and familiar compositions are given a fresh perspective. In close collaboration with the Study Centre for Flemish Music, the recordings are founded on intensive research in libraries and archives and meticulously prepared score editions. The works, expertly selected by connoisseurs, are performed by valued musicians and ensembles who passionately restore neglected and forgotten composers to the recognition they deserve. With these vibrant composer monographs, Antarctica Records aims to broaden horizons and enrich the repertoire with rediscovered treasures from the past. This FMH album focuses on the third and final volume of works for piano solo by Joseph Ryelandt (1870-1965). Performed by Jozef de Beenhouwer, who has championed Ryelandt's music for decades, the album sheds light on a versatile and refined voice in Belgian musical history.

The Found Tapes: Live in Los Angeles is a 3 CD set from Tribe Records co-founder Phil Ranelin, celebrating a trio of LA club performances from 1978-1981 which remain especially significant to the visionary trombonist. Backed by a young Billy Childs on piano, Ralph Penland on drums, and Tony Dumas on bass, Ranelin was in peak form as a player and bandleader during this period. This is particularly true of one specific outing at the now shuttered Maiden Voyage in Los Angeles on July 19, 1981, which is presented in full within this set. The audio was restored from decades old cassette tapes which have never been heard until now. A master trombonist of the J.J. Johnson tradition, Ranelin's career has spanned over five decades with eleven records as a solo artist, four as a Freddie Hubbard sideman, session recordings for Motown, and work with artists ranging from Stevie Wonder and Ella Fitzgerald to Red Hot Chili Peppers and Telefon Tel Aviv.

We Have Fed You All For A Thousand Years

The Czech-born pianist and writer August Stradal (1860–1930) – a Bruckner student and Liszt disciple– was one of the more prolific transcribers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He produced a vast quantity of phenomenally difficult piano music, including Liszt’s orchestral works, most of Bruckner’s symphonies, a good deal of the Baroque (a huge amount of Bach) and much more. This is the second in a series presenting his Wagner transcriptions, again featuring pianist Juan Guillermo Vizcarra. “Vizcarra makes a staggeringly powerful case for these transcriptions…” (Music Web Int’l)

Schubert: Symphony No. 8 in B Minor, D. 759 "Unfinished" & S

Big Chief Donald Harrison Jr. Is one of finest saxophonists of his generation. His resume includes long associations with Terrance Blanchard and Art Blakey throughout the 1980s. But the foundation of Harrison's music, and it's the soul of his music, comes from his lifelong participation in the culture of New Orleans, his home town. Here he pays tribute to that rich culture, and accompanied by non other than the legendary Dr. John. Both artists, the embodiment of New Orleans' music in their own right. The album features a mix of original compositions and jazz standards, all infused with the spirit and energy of New Orleans. Featuring the Mardi Gras Indian chants of The Guardians Of The Flame, this recording captures the magic of heritage New Orleans Mardi Gras music and wraps it all up in one package. Originally recorded at BMG Studios in New York City, May of 1991. Remastered by Bernie Grumman.

For pianist Yuja Wang's 2015 album on DG, she wows with two perennial hits: Ravel's Piano Concerto in G major and The Piano Concerto for the Left Hand in D major. Ravel composed both concertos between 1929 and 1930 and the latter was commissioned by the Austrian pianist Paul Wittgenstein, who lost his right arm during World War I. The young, stellar conductor Lionel Bringuier and Tonhalle-Orchester Z�rich are the perfect partners.

BACK TO FUTURE / O.S.T.

Troy 'Trombone Shorty' Andrews' Is a Rare Artist Who Can Draw Both the Unqualified Respect of Jazz Legends And Deliver a High-Energy Rock Show Capable of Mesmerizing International Rock Stars And Audiences Alike. With Such An Unprecedented Mix of Rock, Funk, Jazz, Hip-Hop And Soul, He Had to Create His Own Name to Describe His Signature Sound: Supafunkrock! Andrews Is the Kind of Player Who Comes Along Maybe Once in a Generation, And Backatown Is the Latest, Clearest Proof That His Artistry Is As Singular As His Raw Talent.

A delightful medley, musically as well as musicologically, the 18 different instruments being combined with great imagination.

The subtitle of this album says more about its content than does the main one. There is much titular reference to Spain and to gypsies, but only in ‘The Spanish Jeepsies’ do the two come together. It seems that in Shakespeare’s time Spanish popular tunes were perceived as being of gypsy origin. More to the point, the programme is skilfully devoted to showing the influence of Celtic and Spanish idioms on English popular music – a difficult, labyrinthine process that it’s not particularly helpful to try to summarise here, but it is well covered in Lawrence-King’s annotation.

Charles I’s Consorte opened the way for courtly instruments to ‘fraternise’ with humbler ones, creating a variety of new sounds, and the Harp Consort take full advantage of this ‘social’ freedom. The eight players form a kaleidoscope of broken consorts drawn from the 18 instruments (plucked, bowed, blown and percussed) at their disposal, producing a remarkable spectrum of sound from the ethereal (‘Lady Louthians Lilt’) to the downright boisterous (‘The Wherligig’). Only five of the 23 items last for more than four minutes but one never has the impression of a trayful of canapes deputising for a good meal.

When it comes to putting together a coherent and well-researched programme of assorted small-scale items, only Peter Holman springs to mind as Andrew Lawrence-King’s peer. Excellent recording is the icing on this delectable cake, one that takes 71 minutes to enjoy.

-- John Duarte, Gramophone [11/2000]