JEWELS OF THE MEDIEVAL ERA

Christoph Graupner: The Seven Words Of Christ On The Cross

BEETHOVEN: Symphonies Nos. 5 and 6

FINEST CANADIAN MUSICANS: ANAK

Includes work(s) by various composers.

Includes work(s) by various composers.

PIATIGORSKY / MENOTTI / BEGLARIAN: Remembering Piatigorsky

Includes the music teacher. Ensemble: Brussels Belgian Radio & TV Philharmonic Orchestra. Soloist: José Van Dam.

Beethoven composed nine symphonies, each so striking individually that it is best not to attempt a general description. With them, and in them, he endows orchestral music with new dimensions and qualities, and correspondingly new demands on the audience’s habitual ways of listening. There is reflection and sensation, a dominant constructive spirit, atmosphere and emotionality – all intertwined with a perspective that was radically new at the time.

Nagano clearly knows what he wants to achieve in this repertoire, and the best of his work will no doubt hold interest and fascination among Beethoven lovers.

– ClassicsToday (Jed Distler)

Schubert composed his Sonata No. 4 in A minor (D. 537), a work of unabashed Romanticism, in 1817. Whilst the outer movements are highly dramatic in character, the central slow movement features a long and enchanting melody of an almost fragile delicacy. He returned to this melody eleven years later in 1828, using it as the theme of the last movement of the Sonata No. 19 in A major D. 959, his penultimate sonata. This Allegretto is perhaps the most "Schubertian" of all: it is generous, graceful, full of hope despite a weighty melancholy, and always in motion. Schubert’s return to the melody that he had composed when he was twenty years old attests his particular love for it; it was his personal hymn, his secret melody.

Each of the four sets of double CDs has been curated as a musical story, an exploration, an experience to be enjoyed in one sweep, if time allows. The symphonies mirror one another, serving as bookends, the songs and chamber music draw us into a tender, intimate realm and inspiring contemporary improvisations remind us that extemporisation was the engine of creativity for these prodigious artists.

In many ways this repertoire sits in the sweet spot of our ensemble, formed, as it is, in the mould of a late-Classical, early-Romantic symphony orchestra. And indeed this is where these three phenomenal composers - Clara, Robert, Johannes - themselves sit: as bridges between the Classical and the Romantic. On the one hand they were rooted, deeply, in the philosophy, sensibility, instrumentation, and musical architecture of the Classical period. On the other they strove to mould the sound of the future, a future invited by the power, passion, and profound humanity of their great forebear Beethoven.

– Alexander Shelley

"After releasing my album Portrait: Philip Glass in 2008, I wanted to take a deeper dive into the vast œuvre of this composer, an icon of our era and one whose work has and will long continue to have impact. For many years now his fascinating and captivating music has been nourishing me intellectually and musically. Glass being one of the most prolific of composers, there was no shortage of works to include on this my 48th album. My selection approach remains the same; I choose those works I find significant and compelling. Like Glass’ work as a whole, the content of this album is very diverse: music for theatre and for cinema, for chamber and for symphony orchestra, and recent works as well as some written almost 50 years ago! Thank you for giving me carte blanche to revisit these works with my ensemble." (Angèle Dubeau)

Following a fruitful first collaboration for Mozart’s Piano Concertos Nos. 22 and 24, Charles Richard-Hamelin, Les Violons du Roy and Jonathan Cohen return this time with Piano Concertos Nos. 20 and 23. The works on this recording were composed by Mozart between 1783 and 1786, when the musician was approaching an important personal and professional turning point. First, the Concerto in A major, K. 488, was completed on March 2, 1786, two months before the premiere of The Marriage of Figaro, a work that marks Mozart's return to opera. While Concerto K. 466 is, with Concerto No. 24, the only one by Mozart in the minor mode, that also coincides with the arrival of his son Karl. The performance of the soloist and of the orchestra complement each other marvellously in these two masterpieces whose contrasts respond to each other magnificently.

Established in 2014 by the Azrieli Foundation, the Azrieli Music Prizes (AMP) offer opportunities for the discovery, creation, performance, and celebration of excellence in music composition. Further aims of AMP are to educate the public about the universal appeal and artistic importance of both Jewish and Canadian music through live performance, recording, composer talks, panel discussions, or other related programming.

A multi-year and multi-disc exploration of the music – and; through the music; the lives – of Clara; Robert; and Johannes. Their creative output reflects not only their individual brilliance and characters; but also the role of the creative artist in their time and across the centuries.