For the seventh volume of his Chopin project, the Canadian pianist and exclusive Chandos Artist Louis Lortie has built a program that includes works from the earliest to the latest periods in the composer’s life, all of which are linked by their evocation of ‘nationality’ – Italy, Spain and of course Chopin’s beloved Poland. The Rondo à la Mazur, Op. 5 and the Rondo, Op. 16 are examples of this longer form that was linked with the ‘brilliant’ style of piano writing popular in the 1820’s. Chopin soon moved away from this style, in search of a more progressive compositional style. Composed around the same time as the Op. 16 Rondo, the Boléro, Op. 19 evokes the exoticism of Spain, whilst the Tarantella Op. 43 reflects the Parisian vogue for the southern Italian dance sparked by Auber’s grand opera ‘La Muette de Portici’. Now one of his most celebrated works, the Polonaise, Op. 53 represented for Chopin the culmination of his project, begun with the two Polonaises, Op. 26, to imbue the genre with powerful national symbolism. These works are interspersed with four sets of Mazurkas, Opp. 17, 30, 63, and 68. Chopin almost single-handedly introduced the Mazurka to Paris when he arrived there in the late 1820s, and continued to compose them throughout his life, transforming the Polish dance form into some of his most dazzling and memorable compositions.

Mary Cassatt made a career painting the lives of the women around her. Her radical images showed them as intellectual, curious and engaging, which was a major shift in the way women appeared in art. Presenting her astonishing prints, pastels and paintings, this film introduces us to the often-overlooked Impressionist whose own career was as full of contradiction as the women she painted. Her artwork is some of the finest of the period. She printed, sketched and painted dozens of images of mothers and children yet she never married or had children herself.

Cassatt was a classically trained artist but chose to join a group of Parisian radicals – the Impressionists – a movement that transformed the language of art. She was as much a part of the group as Degas, Monet or Renoir. The world’s most eminent Cassatt curators and scholars reveal a riveting tale of great social and cultural change; a time when women were fighting for their rights and the language of art was completely re-written. Mary Cassatt and her modern women were at the heart of it all.

Celebrating the 130th anniversary of Sergei Prokofiev (1891 - 1953), the present box set brings together recordings of his seven symphonies made by Andrew Litton and the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra between 2012 and 2017. Released on separate discs, the series has received acclaim from international reviewers, variously highlighting the orchestra ('Bergen Philharmonic plays gorgeously... ', ClassicsToday. Com), the conductor ('It is clear that Litton has a deep understanding of Prokofiev's complex, protean style... ', MusicWeb-International) and the recordings themselves ('BIS's blockbuster sound... ', Fanfare). The symphonies appear with their original couplings, including the popular suites from the film score to Lieutenant Kijé and the ballet The Love for Three Oranges. As an added bonus, the set includes the team's very first recording for BIS: an innovative and highly praised version of Prokofiev's three suites from Romeo and Juliet, with the 20 movements reordered to follow the ballet score.

Excerpts of reviews from previously released volumes included in this set:

Prokofiev: Symphonies Nos. 1-3

In sum these performances, engineered with warmth, clarity and impact, rank with best; and having all three symphonies on a single disc makes this release something of a bargain as well–even at full price.

– ClassicsToday.com (10/10; David Hurwitz)

This is a perfect disc; absolutely everything goes right. The revised, enlarged version of the Fourth Symphony can sound bloated and too long for its material. This performance, by contrast, has passion, color, and drive aplenty. Especially in the outer movements, you’d never know that the leaner, meaner first version exists, and no praise can be higher than that.

The Seventh has always been, for me at least, a better work than many commentators allow. It contains, for example, one of Prokofiev’s best lyrical melodies in its first movement and finale. The waltz-like scherzo is wholly delightful, the slow third movement touching. Prokofiev often indulges a deliberate simplicity, and Litton takes him at his word, never for a moment lapsing into artifice or affectation.

The finale, which we get to hear twice complete, once with each of its endings, is particularly breezy and exhilarating. Through it all the Bergen Philharmonic plays gorgeously, and the SACD sonics are state-of-the-art. A wonderful release.

– ClassicsToday.com (10/10; David Hurwitz)

Every five years the Soviet Union celebrated the anniversary of the October 1917 Revolution with large-scale public events, to which the country’s leading artists were expected to contribute. Mieczyslaw Weinberg, like his friend Shostakovich, enjoyed mixed fortunes with his efforts. The symphonic poem Dawn (Zarya), Op. 60, dedicated to the fortieth anniversary of the Revolution, seems to have remained unperformed during his lifetime, despite its ideologically irreproachable content. Its première was finally given in the BBC studios in Manchester, on 15 May 2019, by the BBC Philharmonic under John Storgårds.

When Shostakovich died, on 9 August 1975, it had been five years since Weinberg composed his last symphony. To commemorate his friend and mentor (whom he regarded as the greatest symphonist of his age) Weinberg decided on a full-scale, four movement, non-programmatic work as his personal tribute. Symphony No. 12, written between December 1975 and February 1976 is the longest of Weinberg’s purely instrumental symphonies. Kirill Kondrashin was due to conduct the première, but his last-minute insistence on large-scale cuts and changes to the score was taken by Weinberg as a great insult, and ended their relationship. The first performance was finally given as a radio broadcast on 13 October 1979, (probably) by the USSR TV and Radio Symphony Orchestra under Maxim Shostakovich.

Among Bruckner’s Symphonies, the Fifth is his contrapuntal masterpiece; the grandest until the Eighth. The tour-de-force of a finale gives us an idea of what the finale of the Ninth might have been like. Its magnificent dark and halting opening with the descending bass line – so effectively recalled in the finale – is inimitable. Although long available only in a disfigured version by Franz Schalk, it is also distinct for never having been the subject to revision or, perhaps, even doubt on the part of Bruckner – who never heard it performed with an orchestra. And yet, when Bruckner wrote this masterpiece, he was still far from establishing himself as a composer in Vienna and his spirits were as low as ever, writing a friend that “my life has lost all joy and delight – in vain and for nothing.” A radiant pinnacle from amid darkness.

A Gramophone Editor's Pick, Shortlisted for the 2022 Gramophone Awards

Recommended by MusicWeb International

A Boston Globe Best Classical Album of 2022

Hans Abrahamsen's Schnee (Snow, 2008) is a gorgeous marvel which encapsulates winter. The instrumental cycle, already a classic of the twenty-first century, comprises a set of ten canons making up an hour of ghostly, feathery music. There is no hurrying, but great depth. As Abrahamsen himself says: ‘In Schnee, a single moment is stretched as far as possible. At some point, the music disappears. There is just a breath of air left’. Founded in 1972, Lapland Chamber Orchestra is the most northerly professional chamber orchestra in Finland and indeed in the entire EU. The orchestra has 18 full-time members and its Artistic Director is conductor John Storgårds. The first ever Principal Guest Conductor, for 2019-2021, is Tomas Djupsjöbacka. Based in Rovaniemi, the orchestra is a regional orchestra that regularly tours the Province of Lapland, but also performs elsewhere in Finland and abroad. The orchestra has performed in festivals such as Savonlinna Opera Festival, Helsinki Festival, the Korsholma Music Festival and the LuostoClassic event. The latest tours abroad have taken the orchestra to Canada, Hungary, Austria, Algeria and the BBC Proms in London.

"The sounds Abrahamsen craves...translucent across a large range of actual expression, hugely complex on the page but delectably simple to the ear, are exceptionally realized and recorded here." -Gramophone

Review

...for a number of years after 1990 [the Danish composer Hans] Abrahamsen composed hardly anything, finding himself in a compositional impasse. The present work Schnee (snow), is one of those with he found his way out of this impasse, and it has been widely admired. However, Abrahamsen’s biggest success so far has been with his 2013 song cycle Let me tell you, using the words of Ophelia from Hamlet. This won the Grawemeyer Award and was voted the greatest classical composition of the twentyfirst century by a poll of critics in 2019.

During his compositional silence, Abrahamsen busied himself with arrangements of the music of other composers, including Bach. He was particularly intrigued by Bach’s set of Canons BWV 1072-8, which he arranged with the aim of repeating them again and again. This gave him the idea of writing his own music using canonic techniques. When he received a commission to write a work for a festival in 2006 he wrote what became the opening two movements of Schnee. The whole work is organised as a set of paired canons, each having an a and a b version. There are also three Intermezzi. Abrahamsen thought of each pair of canons as together forming a third, three-dimensional piece. He also thought of stereoscopic pictures, which two nearly identical pictures give the impression of depth to the viewer.

Each pair of canons is shorter than its predecessor. Furthermore, the ensemble is divided into two groups: sitting on either side of the percussionist on the left we have the strings: violin, viola, cello and one piano. On the right are the woodwind: flute (doubling piccolo and alto flute), oboe (doubling cor anglais), clarinet (doubling E flat and bass clarinet) and a second piano. These are used in contrasting ways. There are also strong contrasts in pace. In the three intermezzi, the wind and stringed instruments are tuned down slightly, creating interference patterns with the pianos, which have normal tuning.

So much for the technicalities of the work, though one could go on a good deal longer about them. What does it sound like? Well, it begins very quietly, so quietly in fact that at first I thought there was something wrong with my equipment. There are very high violin notes and then a melody picked out on the piano. The second set of canons moves rapidly, like walking through swirling snow. The fourth set uses the same sleigh-bells which Mozart used in his Sleigh Ride (Die Schlittenfahrt) from his Three German Dances K. 605. The fifth set uses the device Bach exploited in Contrapunctus 13 from The Art of Fugue of two pieces, one of which is the inversion of the other. At the end, the music just disappears. The work is completely absorbing and gripping and creates a unique atmosphere.

It is beautifully recorded; I was listening in ordinary two-channel stereo, but this is a SACD and should sound even better in that medium. There are helpful sleevenotes, in English and Danish, from which I have borrowed, and altogether this is a memorable disc.

--MusicWeb International (Stephen Barber)

Handel is one of Sandrine Piau’s cult composers, and everyone has vivid memories of her magnificent Alcina on DVD (ALPHA715): ‘Where once I portrayed light-hearted, pirouetting heroines, this new album offers a portrait of powerful, often wounded women.’. . . ‘Queens, sorceresses, sirens . . . we were attracted by the musical and emotional intensity of the hopes, disappointments and sufferings of these women, not forgetting the malice or cruelty that they also know how to deploy’, continues Jérôme Correas, the soprano’s longstanding musical partner and conductor of Les Paladins. With Almirena, Cleopatra and Alcina, Handel explores all the facets of these defeated heroines, whose boldly delineated characters live once more in Sandrine Piau’s passionate interpretation.

Includes arias from:

Lotario | Rinaldo | Giulio Cesare | Alcina | Amadigi di Gaula | O numi eterni

Plus movements from the Concerti grossi

REVIEW:

Sandrine Piau, not English and not even Italian, is arguably the greatest Handelian soprano of the day. She gets excellent support from the smooth historical performance group Les Paladins. She and director Jérôme Correas mesh beautifully. This all comes down to a magnificent artist at the top of her powers.

-- AllMusicGuide.com (James Manheim)

This exciting new program of Violin Sonatas by Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) comes from award-winning violinist Christian Tetzlaff and pianist Lars Vogt as the latest volume in their highly successful series of violin chamber works. These sonatas were composed between 1878 and 1888, and are among the greatest 19th century chamber music masterpieces. . This release also features a Scherzo movement from the F. A. E. Sonata, which was Brahms’ contribution to a composite sonata with Albert Dietrich and Robert Schumann in 1853. Christian Tetzlaff maintains an extensive performance schedule and is one of the world’s leading international violinists. He has won numerous awards including “Instrumentalist of the Year” from Musical America, and the “Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik” for his recording of violin concertos by Mendelssohn and Schumann.

REVIEWS:

A breathtaking balance of poise and daring. Tetzlaff and Vogt take obvious pleasure in details without losing sight of the larger picture, whether it’s a phrase, a movement or an entire work. Indeed, they sharply delineate the individual character of each sonata.

– Gramophone Magazine

I get the impression that Christian Tetzlaff and Lars Vogt want to drag the composer out of his book-lined study and seal the door. It’s beautiful playing, tonally and expressively, and very musical, but it’s also surprisingly open – Brahms after an expensive course of Viennese psychotherapy.

– BBC Music Magazine

Deeply challenging, even confrontational, to the classical string quartet format, composer JG Thirlwell's Dystonia is a leap forward not only for listeners, but for musicians as well. Mivos Quartet's fiery interpretation of these five pieces — each in its own way difficult, harrowing, engaging and uplifting — is also a tribute to their dedication, skill and sense of adventure as artists.

"This is bold, insistent music that grabs you and takes you where it wants to go," writes Bang on a Can co-founder Michael Gordon in his liner notes for the album. That sentiment lands with a fury in the recording's central piece "Ozymandias," a not-for-the-faint-of- heart excursion that channels the tension and dread of, for example, Bernard Herrmann's famed Psycho score, but expands on it with the subtle, stately majesty of Bartók and Cage

Although he had famous students (i.e. Szymanowski) and teachers (Moniuszko), few listeners know much, if anything, about Zygmunt Noskowski (1846–1909). And yet, for most of the 19th century, he was the primary exponent of modern symphonic music in Poland. As a conductor and concert organizer, he had himself championed the causes of forgotten Polish composers. Now it is Antoni Wit, Noskowski’s successor at the helm of the Warsaw Philharmonic at a distance of 94, who helps out his late-romantic colleague – just as he has already done with the music Zygmunt Stojowski on a previous Capriccio recording (C5464).

REVIEW:

When you listen to the music of Zygmunt Noskowski, you can’t help but notice that all of the elemental characteristics of late 19th century orchestral music are present. The intense seriousness of Brahms, the romantic idealism of Schumann, as well as the folk-influenced melodic writing of Dvorák. And within its overall sunny disposition, it even points to some of Bruckner’s more lighthearted scherzo movements.

There’s a heartwarming ease and charm to the inner slow movements of these symphonies, as well as dramatic and rhythmic fervor to the outer movements. All aspects that Polish conductor Antoni Wit brings to the forefront. The members of the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz perform this music with enthusiasm and the same attention to expressive details they would apply to any and all repertoire standbys and warhorses. Makes you wonder why Zygmunt Noskowski’s name doesn’t come up to the surface more often.

-- Classical Music Sentinel

Also available on Blu-ray

Philip Glass wrote about his compositional processes: “I don’t care about music theory, I’m only interested in listening to music. I begin by listening. Like images emerging from the mist and becoming visible.” This seminal work of avant-garde opera from composer Philip Glass and director Robert Wilson arrives full-circle, coming to France, the site of its 1976 Avignon Festival world premiere, at the tail end of this 2014 revival tour for a landmark Theatre du Chatelet production and a first ever filming by award-winning arts filmmaker Don Kent. Eschewing conventional narrative, the opera revolves loosely around pacifist Einstein’s relationship to the creation of the atomic bomb. In continuity with the opera’s debut, for this new production, hailed by Le Figaro as ‘meticulously crafted total artwork in which the visual and musical craft are inseparable,’ the music is again performed by the Philip Glass Ensemble and the choreography devised by original cast member Lucinda Childs for her Lucinda Childs Dance Company, with the scenes taking place under Bob Wilson’s own digitally remastered light design.

-----

DETAILS:

Sound: LPCM & DTS 5.1
Aspect Ratio: 16:9 Anamorphic
Region: All Regions

The Dover Quartet, “the young American string quartet of the moment” (The New Yorker), launches its emerging, three-volume complete Beethoven quartet cycle with the six Opus 18 quartets, often cited as the epitome of the classical string quartet as developed by Haydn and Mozart while foreshadowing Beethoven’s future innovations. 

Work began on the basilica of Saint-Clotilde in 1846, and only three years later, construction of the organ began under the supervision of the doyen of French organ builders, Aristide Cavaillé-Coll. The instrument as it comes down to us is one of the most magnificent surviving examples of his art and craft – and crucially for the purposes of this album, influenced in its construction by César Franck, who played the dedicatory recital on the new organ in 1859, a decade after Cavaillé-Coll had begun work. Thus the Saint-Clotilde instrument can be definitively acclaimed as the Franck organ par excellence, the ideal home of his organ output. And who better to make a new recording of it than the current holder of the organ’s titular post, Olivier Penin?

Penin himself is thoroughly schooled in the lineage of French organ-playing. Born in 1981, Olivier Penin began playing the piano at the age of five and in 1987 he joined the Schola Cantorum in Caen. In 2004, he was appointed co-titular at Sainte Clotilde, and became the sole holder of the post in 2012. Thus he brings decades of experience to the recording of both this music and this instrument, each of which was designed for the other, as it were. In making this album of Franck at Saint-Clotilde, Penin follows in the footsteps of distinguished forebears such as the composer-organist Jean Langlais. Nevertheless, he brings his own, 21st-century appreciation for the composer’s elusive idiom, which relies on the gradual accumulation of mood and intensity in long, rhapsodic pieces such as the three Chorales and the Grand Pièce symphonique, and then rhythmic grip in the unstoppable momentum of the Pièce Héroïque and the Final Op.21.

Carlo il Calvo – ‘Charles the Bald’ – was first performed in 1738 at Rome’s leading opera house, the Teatro delle Dame. Porpora’s opera is based on a Venetian libretto dating from 1699 which, under various titles, has been set to music by composers such as Vinacessi, Keller, Alessandro Scarlatti, Orlandini and Telemann. The score has been preserved at the Conservatory in Naples. The plot is set in that period of the early Middle Ages when Charlemagne’s Europe was disintegrating at the hands of his quarrelling heirs. Its distinctive feature is that the titular hero is a child. In contrast to his colleagues, Porpora even gives him some verses to sing. Louis the German, Charles’ half-brother and Charlemagne’s grandson, abducts the legitimate heir to the throne in order to rob him of his sovereignty. This provides Charles’s mother with the opportunity for heart-wrenching scenes of despair and breathtaking outbursts of felling. On the stage of the premiere were acclaimed singing stars of baroque Europe. The vocal demands are correspondingly exorbitant: in this premiere recording sovereignly and first-class interpreted by Franco Fagioli (Adalgiso), Max Emanuel Cencic (Lottario), Julia Lezhneva (Gildippe), Suzanne Jerosme (Giuditta), Petr Nekoranec (Asprando), Bruno de Sá (Berardo) and Nian Wang (Eduige) with Armonia Atenea under George Petrou.

Learn more about Elite Recordings and the revival of their VOX Classics albums on the Naxos Classical Spotlight Podcast!

These Vox recordings from 1974 capture Leonard Slatkin and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in classic performances of Gershwin’s most popular orchestral works including An American in Paris, Catfish Row and Cuban Overture. Newly remastered in 192kHz / 24-bit high definition.