Winner of a 2022 Gramophone Award for Best Orchestral Recording!

If one sought a musical manifestation of all the painful experiences and tragic failures of European history in the early 20th century, it would be impossible to overlook the symphonies of Gustav Mahler. Here, there is no harmony where discord is more fitting. Here, life cries out, with all the conflict and joy it proffers humanity. In their performances, Kirill Petrenko and the Bayerisches Staatsorchester have enabled these experiences to resonate in remarkable fashion. What better way to launch the Bayerische Staatsopers new label than with this outstanding live concert recording. (Nikolaus Bachler, General Manager, Bayerische Staatsoper) Kirill Petrenko, general music director of the Bayerische Staatsoper from 2013 until 2020, conducts Gustav Mahlers Symphony No. 7 a pinnacle of the symphonic repertoire in a dramatic interpretation. This is the first audio-recording with Kirill Petrenko as chief conductor of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester.

Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, born four years before her brother Felix, was an accomplished pianist and a prolific composer. When she died of a stroke aged just 42, she left around 460 pieces of music, some 250 of which are songs. The difficulties of making a career in her own era (Her supportive father would not allow her to publish or work as a ‘professional’ composer) have condemned much of her work to obscurity: a situation that is now rapidly being reversed with more concerts and recordings of works by women composers.

Here the award-winning Kaleidoscope Collective champion her Piano Trio and Piano Quartet, alongside Felix Mendelssohn’s under-performed Piano Sextet. Fanny composed her Piano Quartet whilst a student, aged 17. In contrast, the Piano Trio was her last chamber work, written in her final year. Felix Mendelssohn’s Piano Sextet was also an early work, written in just a few short weeks in the spring of 1824. For some reason he never published the work (perhaps because of the unusual scoring) hence it became his Op. 110 when published posthumously in 1868.

Star tenor Piotr Beczala presents a selection of romances by Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky, together with the acclaimed lied accompanist Helmut Deutsch.

The romance was the most popular musical genre in nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century Russia, practiced by professionals as well as amateurs. Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff both enriched this genre with their lyricism and melodic invention.

Elevated by Deutsch’s splendid accompaniment, Beczala delivers these songs with a great sense for the Slavic idiom and meaning of the words, combined with colorful lyricism and italianità, perfectly fitting the Russian and cosmopolitan musical language of these two masters.

Piotr Beczala is one of the most sought-after tenors of his age, both on the opera and concert stage. His Pentatone debut album Vincerò! has been one of the most successful and critically acclaimed opera recital albums of the last few years. During the 2021 Opus Klassik Awards, Piotr Beczala was crowned as Singer of the Year for this exceptional recording. Pianist Helmut Deutsch is a first-class song accompanist, working together with the greatest vocalists of today. He makes his Pentatone debut.

No collection of the composer's orchestral works would be complete without the overtures and theater music. The Minnesota Orchestra and Stanislaw Skrowaczewski's acclaimed VoxBox set of the overtures and incidental music makes a welcome return to the catalogue. Produced by the legendary Elite Recordings team of Marc Aubort and Joanna Nickrenz, and newly remastered from the original analogue tapes in high-definition.

REVIEW:

This set is an absolute joy. In athletic and muscular playing, the orchestra appear to strain at the leash, ready to explode with exuberance. Phyllis Bryn-Julson and the Minnesota Bach Society are an excellent match in the vocal numbers, and the recording is as vivid and rich as the performers.

-- BBC Music Magazine

Written almost 100 years ago, The Thief of Bagdad is one of the greatest ever film scores and incredibly, has never been recorded untill l now - FHR are honored to be able to release the first recording of this wonderful score. Recorded in 2019, this recording features one of greatest European orchestras, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, along with conductor Mark Fitz-Gerald who has an unparalleled reputation for performing the very specialized task of accompanying silent films live with orchestra. The score was written by the American composer Mortimer Wilson at the specific request of the film's main star actor Douglas Fairbanks. The Thief of Bagdad is now widely considered one of the great silent films and Fairbanks's greatest work. For the first time, Fairbanks recognized the composer as a creative collaborator from the start in the overall composition of his film (Wilson spent many hours in the projection room working out precise timings for every scene). Wilson was essentially a classical composer. Indeed, you can hear influences of Puccini's aria Vissi d'arte from Tosca, hints of Wagner's Valkyrie, along with moments of Alban Berg, Reger and Tchaikovsky. Fairbanks biographer Jeffrey Vance writes, "An epic romantic fantasy-adventure inspired by several of the Arabian Nights tales, The Thief of Bagdad is the greatest artistic triumph of Fairbanks's career. The superb visual design, spectacle, imaginative splendor, and visual effects, along with his bravura performance (leading a cast of literally thousands), all contribute to making this his masterpiece."

John Philip Sousa’s fame as ‘The March King’ came about in part due to the tireless touring of Sousa’s Band, attracting worldwide acclaim with thousands of concerts. This final volume in the series explores some of the lesser-known corners of Sousa’s output. These include fantasies and humoresques that use renowned classical works and fashionable melodies of their day. Also featured are the rarely heard processional hymn with choir We March, We March to Victory and The Fancy of the Town, which offers up a world tour of traditional and popular songs.

REVIEW:

"Over the Footlights in New York" treats themes from several classical sources. 'Fancy of the Town' is an arrangement of several songs, some well known, some not. Sousa called the flowing 'What Do You Do Sunday, Mary?' a “humoresque”, though despite the title, ‘I’ve Been Working on the Railroad’ and ‘Oh Susanna’ pop in. We March, We March to Victory (with chorus) is a spirited rouser that somehow seems banal.

The rest of the program is made up of Sousa arrangements. All these works are light, upbeat, and typical of turn-of-the-20th Century music-in-the-park Americana. The performances are well played and recorded, and the notes are nicely written and informative.

-- American Record Guide

Violinist Rachel Barton Pine’s 26th recording for Cedille Records, Dependent Arising, reveals surprising confluences between classical and heavy metal music by pairing Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 77 with Earl Maneein’s “Dependent Arising” — Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, performed with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra under the baton of Tito Muñoz.

Known for her virtuosity, expressive playing, and extensive repertoire, Pine discovered her love for heavy metal as a teenager, and later performed at rock radio stations where she would intersperse covers of songs by Black Sabbath, AC/DC, and Metallica with works by Paganini and Ysaÿe. The album explores connections between modern classical music and heavy metal and showcases Pine’s unique journey with these two seemingly disparate genres.

Now a staple of the classical concerto repertory, Shostakovich’s emotionally charged Violin Concerto No. 1 also holds a special place among metal enthusiasts, with its diverse movements ranging from haunting Nocturne to relentless Burlesque. Earl Maneein’s “Dependent Arising” pushes the boundaries of traditional concerto composition and draws inspiration from the Western European classical music tradition, the world of “Extreme Metal,” and the composer’s practice as a Buddhist. Maneein ia also an acclaimed violinist and composer known for his unique and innovative fusion of western classical music, heavy metal, and hardcore punk,

The album was produced by the Grammy-winning team of James Ginsburg and engineer Bill Maylone, with session engineering by the RSNO’s Hedd Morfett-Jones. It was recorded January 7–8, 2022 at Scotland’s Studio, Glasgow.

This lovely performance from the Taylor Festival Choir presents two very different but both profoundly spiritual arrangements of the Catholic Mass. Both of these works display their composers’ strong Celtic roots. Celtic Mass by Michael McGlynn includes sections in Irish Gaelic between the traditional Latin phrases. Mass by James MacMillan sets the movements in English, and includes other liturgical texts that make the work acceptable for a stand-alone service. The Taylor Festival Choir, conducted by Robert Taylor, has earned itself a strong reputation for being one of America’s most prestigious professional choirs.

Recipient of a 10/10 rating by Gramophone!

The touch and musicianship of the Hungarian pianist Klára Würtz is amply attested by a substantial catalogue of Brilliant Classics and Piano Classics albums stretching from Mozart to Bartók. Her latest recording turns to a pillar of the keyboard repertoire, the variation set composed by J.S. Bach in 1741 as the fourth and final volume of his compendious Clavier-Übung (Keyboard exercise) project.

Practical instruction, entertainment and profound expression went hand in hand for Bach: one artistic goal never obscured the others. However, few of his works attain all three goals with the sublime mastery of the Goldberg Variations. The prowess of the performer is tested and placed on show as much as the ingenuity of the creative imagination in Bach’s most comprehensive response to the variation genre. ‘Composed for connoisseurs, for the refreshment of their spirits’: the composer’s dedication and introduction makes the artistic intent of the Goldberg Variations plain. Every third variation in the series of 30 is a canon, following an ascending pattern. The variations that intervene between the canons are also arranged in a pattern, following an order of canon, genre piece (such as a minuet or gigue) and a more freely developed and ornate fantasia. The whole set is bookended by an aria in the style of a sarabande which already presents the theme in decorated form as a grave chaconne. The poised classicism of Klára Würtz’s pianism makes this new recording of the Goldbergs an album to be keenly anticipated by all pianophiles and lovers of Bach. She takes all the repeats, and plays with the full armory of the modern piano’s tonal capabilities.

 

A collection of well-loved traditional Christmas Carols, perfect for creating a warm seasonal atmosphere and to sing along with.

Simple, sincere and thoroughly engaging -- American Record Guide

In his third solo recording for Cantaloupe Music, Florent Ghys radically retools his approach with Ritournelles & Mosaïques — a wide-ranging two-part opus that pulls back the curtain on an intrepid composer, double bassist and electronics bricoleur in full sonic exploration mode. Ghys began work on the project in late 2019, but like the rest of the world, he soon found himself in the midst of a prolonged isolation period, which inspired him to expand his creative palette. On his previous album Télévision, Ghys had begun with an audio-visual idea; this time, he started at the root: with the sound. “I just wanted to make something that sounded great,” he says, “so I spent a lot of time studying the sound of my bass — analyzing it, making sample libraries, recording it — and then studying the different microphones, different rooms, different basses too. So it really started from the sound, and then adapting my audio-visual ideas to that.” Ritournelles is essentially the electro-acoustic, ambient instrumental portion of the program, while Mosaïques is more sample-based and electronic, seething with textural complexity. “Despite the differences though,” Ghys explains, “they really come from the same initial artistic impulse.”

Their fourth Christmas release, BBC Music Magazine Award winning choir Tenebrae return under the expert direction Nigel Short with a sumptuous album of Carols, Hymns and other celebratory works for Christmas.

Tenebrae is regularly engaged with the world’s finest orchestras – appearing regularly with the Academy of Ancient Music and Aurora Orchestra – and has performed at major festivals and venues including the BBC Proms, Edinburgh International Festival, Leipzig Gewandhaus (Germany) and Melbourne Festival (Australia). ‘Passion and Precision’ are Tenebrae’s core values. Through its continued dedication to performance of the highest quality, Tenebrae’s vision is to deliver dramatic programming, flawless performances and unforgettable experiences, allowing audiences around the world to be moved by the power and intimacy of the human voice.

REVIEWS:

The variety of carols is enchanting: Tenebrae includes pieces by authors from the twentieth century (such as Ralph Vaughan Williams, Benjamin Britten, Elizabeth Poston and Herbert Howells), from the nineteenth century (such as Edward W. Naylor) or contemporary (such as Owain Park , Joanna Marsh, Joseph Phibbs and Joanna Forbes l'Estrange), all well-contrasted samples of Christmas music. Short — who presents a new version of Britten's work, A Ceremony of Carols op. 28, a piece full of charm perhaps because of the mystery of the ancient texts—he has done an exceptional job with the musicians in his choir, accompanied by Camilla Pay's harp.

Highlights include the delicate That Yongë Childe ('That little boy'), with a solo of Joshua Davidson—former chorister of the St. John's College—as well as an exquisite duet of soloists Grace Davidson and Martha McLorinan in Spring Carol and the enchanting This Little Babe, in a lyrical and dynamic interpretation of the female voices to the rhythm of the harp. Pay's imaginative and personal interpretation of the interlude deserves a commendable mention. The voices of the choir have been very successful in performing Advent music, such as Marsh's In Winter's House, composed in 2019 for the tenors and basses of the Tenebrae Choir, and the beautiful Advent 'O' Carol by the composer Forbes l'Estrange. Likewise, the version of the traditional Christmas carol The Truth Sent from Above, arranged by Ralph Vaughan Williams, has the splendid baritone Joseph Edwards as soloist.

With his plurality of perspectives, Nigel Short offers a very coherent proposal not only for his varied repertoire but also for the rigor with which he synthesizes the knowledge he has acquired at the head of the Tenebrae Choir.

-- Sonograma

This album celebrates a musical rapport that has lasted for twenty years and, above all, a true friendship: ‘We’re like two sisters, on stage and in life’, as Patricia Kopatchinskaja and Sol Gabetta like to say. In parallel with their dazzling solo careers, they have frequently got together for concerts in trio or double concerto formation (like the one written for them by Francisco Coll, recently released on ALPHA580). But they have conceived their new recording for a rather rare combination, the violin- cello duo – with the aim of choosing pieces they found interesting either stylistically or for the way they use the instruments. The programme includes the Duo written by Zoltán Kodály in 1914, which was not premiered until 1924, two years after Maurice Ravel’s Sonata for violin and cello, along with a few forays into the Baroque period (Leclair, Scarlatti, Bach) and, of course, works by twenty-first- century composers to whom the two soloists are very close: Jörg Widmann, Francisco Coll and Julien-François Zbinden are on the itinerary of this introspective journey into the generous world of two total artists.

Desmarest was something of a frustrated genius. A precocious musician, he had a great career on opera from 1693 to 1698. His destiny was broken when he kidnapped the love of his life and fled to Brussels to escape a death sentence. Kapellmeister to the King of Spain, Philippe V in 1701, then to the Duke of Lorraine, Paris remained off-limits to him until 1720 … Circé (1694) was his apotheosis, meeting of Ulysses and the sorcerers, a superb and supernatural heroine. The dramatic force of the work stimulates the flamboyant Véronique Gens who plays the evil lover!

"Bavouzet’s Haydn is unmatched in its zest and its wit. But it is also substantial, informed and deeply rewarding."

--The New York Times on Bavouzet's Haydn Sonatas cycle, 2022

His multi-award-winning recordings and dazzling concert performances have long established Jean-Efflam Bavouzet as one of the most outstanding pianists of his generation. This latest album – the tenth – in his cycle of the complete Haydn sonatas is built around the Grand Sonata in C major, Hob. XVI: 50, a late work the first movement of which is one of the most highly developed that Haydn ever conceived for the keyboard. Bavouzet has surrounded this with less well-known works: Two very early sonatas (Nos. 3 & 4) provide a stark contrast to the later works (Nos. 28 & 45). The album ends with the Arietta con 12 Variazioni.

Bavouzet notes: ‘The Variations in E flat major and the Sonata in A major, Hob. XVI: 30, were for me the marvelous revelations of this program. In the E flat major Variations (the lovely theme of which Mozart borrowed in his Sonata, KV 282!). The chief question was to know whether to repeat the theme at the end, as certain editions recommend. After several experiments, I finally opted for a solution perhaps a little anachronistic, by construing the entire last variation as a long, gradual crescendo which takes us from the somber and serious atmosphere of the preceding variation towards the brilliant light of the unadorned chords that conclude this magnificent cycle.’

REVIEW:

There’s one masterpiece on this CD: Sonata 60. From Jean-Efflam Bavouzet comes an almost furtively soft beginning to the first theme, a pondering pause, then loud arpeggiated affirmation, jubilation unleashed as ideas crowd in on one another and repeat gleefully. Second prize on this CD goes to Sonata 45, composed 20 years earlier, Haydn’s only piano sonata played without a break. As in previous volumes, Bavouzet mixes sonatas from various periods, backtracking 14 years earlier for Sonatas 3 and 4. So you experience the learning curve through which Haydn achieved his mature works. In Sonata 3, despite its relative simplicity, Bavouzet brings elegance and chipper, assertive bounce to the opening Allegro and you’ll relish his extra ornamentation in the repeat of the Scherzo’s final strain. In Sonata 4 his neatness and propriety in the opening movement is delightfully offset by the impropriety of repeats’ extra ornamentation[.]

--MusicWeb International (Michael Greenhalgh)