Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Following an album dedicated to the forgotten Renaissance master Vicente Lusitano (Gramophone Editor’s Choice, Der Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik Quarterly Critic’s Choice), The Marian Consort makes an enthralling leap forward to the present day. True to its core mission of expanding the vocal repertoire, A Winged Woman showcases the ensemble’s commissions from a crop of the UK’s finest composers – including seven world premiere recordings – with music by Dani Howard, James MacMillan, Electra Perivolaris, Howard Skempton, Chloe Knibbs and others. The works challenge traditions and tropes in imaginative and refreshing ways, bringing together a rich array of musical styles and textual approaches. As Perivolaris’s titular work makes clear, this album puts centre stage the compelling work of some of today’s most exciting women composers.

Includes christmas carol(s) by various composers. Ensemble: Helicon. Soloists: Chris Norman, Ken Kolodner, Robin Bullock.

The Vasari Singers’ annual carol concerts always provide a warming blend of traditional favourites and less well-known music from all periods and styles. Here, joyous and masterful 16th-century polyphony sits alongside eternally popular Victorian carols, and exquisitely crafted settings by Howells and Walford Davies join works as recent as Gabriel Jackson’s The Christ-child. Bob Chilcott magically superimposes traditional carols with entrancing new material, and no Vasari Christmas would be complete without some close harmony Swingle singing.

The addition of a brass ensemble to Christmas concerts and carol services, combining with the more traditional sounds of choir and organ, has become increasingly popular in recent years. This recording brings together a number of works for the specific forces of choir, brass quintet, organ and percussion, some of which have been arranged specially for this release. Interspersed amongst these works are a selection of popular Christmas carols which have formed and integral part of Winchester College Chapel Choir’s core repertoire for many years. Winchester College was founded by William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester, in 1382, and Winchester College Quiristers have for over 625 years sung services in Winchester College Chapel. In modem times they have formed a choir renowned for its excellence. Having celebrated its 25th anniversary in the 2017-18 season, Onyx Brass continues to be the leading light in establishing the brass quintet as a medium for serious chamber music, inspired by the pioneering early years of the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble. To this end, the group has commissioned and performed the world premières of over 200 new works, with many more in the pipeline for performance and recording.

REVIEWS:

The heart of this grouping of Christmas songs is the cantata A Winter’s Night by Cecilia McDowall. That is not really new music; all the tunes are traditional ones, arranged by the composer. Some seem unnecessarily complex, but that’s what contemporary composers do. In the end, it’s all very English, but not unfamiliar, and if you like organ and brass along with a choir you might well go for this.

– American Record Guide

In response to wide spread critical acclaim for their first duet recording on SteepleChase (SCCD 31485 "Twins"), pianist Colligan and bassist Bodilsen did a second session for SteepleChase following a Scandanavian tour just 13 months later. "George Colligan is one of the brightest and most articulate new pianists on today's scene. On "Twins" the pianist's synaptic spontaneity dances freely. Colligan's foil is the estimable young Danish bassist, Jesper Bodilsen. Like NHOP, Bodilsen possesses a warm sound, great dexterity, virtually faultless intonation and an aura of calm even in the midst of volcanic eruptions." (Harvey Pekar, Jazz Times, July/August 2001) " A real keeper all the way around, "Twins" is yet another fine collection to add to Colligan's already imposing body of work." (Chris Hovan, allaboutjazz.com)

Classical Music

The brothers Antoine and Max Bohrer were highly respected musicians who received praise from Berlioz. They also co-composed several works including the Grande symphonie militaire included on this album. Antoine’s Violin Concerto and Max’s Cello Concerto complete this programme of all world premiere recordings.

This programme presents a fascinating excursion through the flute literature from 1893 to 1957, providing a glimpse into the evolution of the sonatina - a title suggesting music of greater brevity and stylistic freedom than that of a sonata. Qualities of a delightful sense of fun and simple effectiveness are shared in Petr Eben and Pal Jardanyi's pieces, while the Fox Trot in Alexandre Tansman's Sonatine reminds us of the popularity of jazz in 1920s Paris. Composed during his time in America, Dvorak's renowned Sonatina for violin and piano is heard here in an adaptation by Luisa Sello and Bruno Canino.

The Belgian composer A.E.M. Grétry or André Ernest Modeste Grétry, is perhaps better known as simply André Grétry. This is his musical depiction of the William Tell story.

Classical Music

While during most of the 16th c. vocal polyphonic music had steadily focused on a four-part structure, around the 1570s the number of parts underwent a remarkable increase, particularly in sacred music, all over Italy. A typical example is the Concerti by Giovanni Gabrieli, published 1587, and one of the cornerstone works of the second half of the 16th c. The structure of these pieces is not particularly complex. Their appeal consists chiefly in the pursuit of grandeur, the dynamic play of choral masses, the restless rhythm of the chord sequences and the search for a sound rich in harmonics.

On their first album featuring madrigals and canzonettas by Andrea Gabrieli, the WESER RENAISSANCE ensemble led by Manfred Cordes was already in its element. On SWR2 Radio Michael Stegemann commented: “A most highly entertaining and successful album. Perfect balance in the mixture of singers and winds, audio transparency of the polyphonic structures, great textual intelligibility.” And on the ensemble’s second Gabrieli release, now with madrigals, psalms, and organ works by this master delighting so much in experimentation, his intention and wish to offer intelligent entertainment to his fellow human beings are clearly shown. By 1566 at the latest, Andrea Gabrieli was appointed to the coveted post of organist at St. Mark’s Cathedral, and already during his lifetime he was esteemed in particular because of his enormous versatility.

A. GLAZUNOV - COMPLETE WORKS FOR ORGAN

Born in Heidelberg in 1968, Arnulf Herrmann is considered one of the most renowned German composers of contemporary music. He studied piano, music theory and composition in Munich, Dresden, Paris and Berlin, where he completed his studies in 2002. In 2003, he was entrusted with a teaching position for theory, analysis and aural training at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin; from 2004, he was the main teacher for composition there and, from 2006, also lectured on instrumentation and analysis. Since 2014, he has held the chair of composition at the Hochschule für Musik Saar. Herrmann mainly composes ensemble and chamber music, but also pieces for orchestra and the stage. In 2012, his opera "Wasser" (“Water”) premiered at the Munich Biennale; excerpts from it had already been heard in 2011 as part of the Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik. In 2017, his opera "Der Mieter" (“The Tenant”) premiered with great success at the Frankfurt Opera, which had commissioned the work. Numerous international contemporary music ensembles perform his works at music festivals such as the Donaueschinger Musiktage, the Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik, and Wien Modern.

"Drei Gesänge am offenen Fenster" (“Three Songs at the Open Window”) for soprano and large orchestra, based on texts by Händl Klaus and Arnulf Herrmann, was commissioned by musica viva/BR. This release documents the live recording of its premiere on October 24, 2014. The performers are Anja Petersen (soprano) and the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks conducted by Stefan Asbury. "Tour de Trance" for soprano and piano, on a text by Monika Rinck, was commissioned by the Musiktage Hitzacker, and premiered in 2017. This studio recording from September 19, 2022 is one of the new versions of the song cycle from the year 2022. Anja Petersen sings, with Björn Lehmann accompanying on the piano.

This album pays homage to the composer Adele Hugo (1830-1915), the fifth child of the great poet Victor Hugo. Suffering from lifelong psychological instability, she spent half of her tragic life in mental institutions, from the age of 42 until her death aged 85. Hers was an exalted and sensitive temperament; she became passionately fond of music from an early age, studying the piano and then composition. Her musical manuscripts were recently rediscovered, and the Director of the Victor Hugo Museums in Paris and Guernsey entrusted them to composer Richard Dubugnon, so as to research and reconstruct the jigsaw of these often quite fragmentary scores, which had been lying forgotten for more than a century. What has emerged is a set of fourteen of her songs on poems by Victor Hugo and verses taken from his great novel Les Miserables, as well as five songs without words. Appropriately, the Orchestre Victor Hugo and it's Music Director Jean-Francois Verdier have been involved in the project, and they invited Dubugnon to orchestrate the pieces, presented here by a multi-generational team of leading singers.

REVIEW:

It's the marvelous singing of Lilli Paasikivi, with her intelligence, penetrating insight, and richly rounded tone that fully captures the spirit of these works and makes them little gems that no Lieder enthusiast can afford to overlook. Ondine's warmly resonant, naturally balanced recording makes this important disc even more welcome. It's a "must-have".

It's not long into this disc before it becomes evident that Alma Mahler was a very different composer from her famous husband Gustav. Alma studied with Zemlinsky, whose influence (along with that of Hugo Wolf) shows most readily in her work--yet this is Alma's music through and through. Even before Mahler forbade her from composing once they were married, Alma displayed a distinctive voice, one steeped in 19th-century Romanticism (her father often sang Schumann lieder) as well as the musical currents of the new century. The first set of Five Songs comes from this early period, and right from the opening "Die stille Stadt" Alma's skill at word setting captivates, as does her ability to recreate in music each poem's unique emotional state. Of the five, "Bei dir ist es traut", with its recurring falling major second, is the only one that sounds remotely close to her husband's style.

After Gustav's death Alma again took up composition, and the following Four Songs reveal a new richness and poignancy in her writing as well as an expanded harmonic palette. "Licht in der Nacht"'s haunting atmosphere lingers after the song has ended, while "Anstrum"'s tonal waywardness displays Alma's awareness of modern musical developments. Alma's last set of Five Songs, published in 1924, is based on spiritual texts, emphasizing both their reverential (Hymne) and mystical (Hymne an die Nacht) themes.

The program concludes with two unpublished songs, "Leise Weht ein erstes Bluhn" and "Kennst du meine Nachte", both composed in a cultivated Romantic style that would indicate their belonging to Alma's earlier period. The impact of the music is no doubt enhanced by Jorma Panula's idiomatic and imaginative orchestrations, beautifully rendered by the Tampere Philharmonic.

--Victor Carr Jr, ClassicsToday.com

”Her pure talent caused a huge stir when she appeared in the world of Fado at the age of 19, and for several decades, both at home and abroad, Amália Rodrigues symbolized the quintessence of this urban popular genre whose heart lay in Lisbon. Amália made the reper-toire richer by introducing major new composers and poets who seduced intellectuals, yet she never renounced her origins: she remained devoted to the most traditional Fado styles. This new Fremeaux release gives new life to 38 exemplary titles recorded between 1945 and1957, the decade in which Amália Rodrigues won international acclaim while creating the history of modern Fado.” Teca CALAZANS & Philippe LESAGE

This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.

Classical Music

Scarlatti, A.: Concerti da Camera

ALESSANDRO SCARLATTI (1660 – 1725)
Il Pastor di Corinto, Opera pastorale in tre atti (1701)

Bruna Tredicine, soprano; Anna Carbonera, soprano; Cristina Cappellini, soprano; Caterina Novak, mezzo; Carlo Putelli, tenor; Roberta De Nicola, soprano buffo; Massimo Di Stefano, bass buffo

Romabarocca Ensemble/Lorenzo Tozzi

Tito Schipa, Jr., stage director
Adriana Ruvolo, costumes; Luigi Stefano Cannelli, design

Recorded: Auditorio di San Francesco a Bolsena, August 16 & 17, 2007 NTSC All Region; 16:9; 5.1; Approx. 140 mins. Subtitled in Italian, English

Classical Music

This is the fifth volume of Alessandro Scarlatti's complete works for keybaord series. Francesco Tasini plays the 1836 organ, located in the basilica of S. Maria di Campagna. This unique organ is perfectly suited to the Toccatas, Sonatas and Follias from the great master from Palermo.

Armand-Louis Couperin was the nephew of François Couperin, and part of a family which was the dominant musical dynasty in France for around two hundred and fifty years. The music of the younger Couperin is difficult to categorize, since he was writing at a time between the decorative aesthetic of the high baroque and the beginning of the true classical style. Sophie Yates relishes the music of this period, for to her, contained in the rococo period are the elements of the baroque, classical and even romantic styles in embryo, making, she says, 'a rich and unpredictable mixture of delights.'

The "[Everything Jazz - Vol.5 ECM Edition]" collection stands as an essential, high-fidelity offering for any serious jazz enthusiast, compiling fifty carefully curated, generation-spanning masterpieces from the renowned ECM label that have earned acclaim both internationally and in Japan. What truly elevates this set is the commitment to superb technical brilliance; presented on the Ultimate High Quality CD (UHQCD) format-often for the first time-and enhanced with the Green Color Label Coat specification, these reissues promise pristine audio fidelity, faithfully reproducing the original master recordings with astonishing clarity. Beyond the cutting-edge sound, the collection adds substantial value with detailed booklets featuring brand-new liner notes and artist comments for each work, making this an indispensable, comprehensive package that blends timeless classics with definitive sound quality, ready for you to discover your next destined masterpiece.

A.RUBINSTEIN: SONGS VOL.1

Aaron Copland was often referred to as "The Dean of American Music" and his compositional style has come to define what is considered the American sound. For the first time in one collection, and originally on Everest Records, Alto is pleased to release three works conducted performed by the London Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Aaron Copland himself.