During the 1970s, pianist Carol Rosenberger brought her “ravishing, elegant pianism” (New York Times) to Karol Szymanowski’s music in live concerts and on two LP recordings. Now available in this new release are her fascinating performances of the complete Szymanowski Mazurkas, as well as the Masques and Etudes- performances that marked the pianist as “a pioneer in the rediscovery of Szymanowski in the modern era.” (composer Mark Abel). The imaginative, improvisatory Mazurkas express Szymanowski’s mission to revitalize Polish music by its roots- Polish folk song and dance. The Masques are spellbinding tonal tapestries almost orchestral in scope. The harmonically rich Etudes, Op. 4 are more romantic in style, while the Etudes, Op. 33 offer a glowing mosaic of colors and textures. In Rosenberger’s much-anticipated memoir, ‘To Play Again,’ she describes her Szymanowski discoveries, her friendship with the composer’s nephew-who made rare manuscripts available to her- and her engrossing journey into this exotic music by the greatest Polish composer of the early twentieth century.

REVIEW:

Listening to her performance of Masques, one is struck by the wide-awake approach of her playing. This is very different from the way most pianists perform Szymanowski nowadays, alluding to the French impressionist school which clearly inspired him. Rosenberger obviously wanted to make his Polish roots more evident in her interpretations, and she does so with surprising strength and wide-awake dynamics and phrasing. The difference is that while others make the constant dissonances of his music sound diffuse and somewhat ethereal, Rosenberger made them sound like Stravinskian grotesqueries.

Taken on its own merits these are clearly startling performances and makes a very strong impression. She doesn’t so much seduce you with the music’s delicacy as grab you with its strength. If you particularly want to hear the Mazurkas played with gusto then Rosenberger’s set is a must.

– The Art Music Lounge

Spring Forward, the delightful title work by multi-talented Peter Schickele, is a gift to the composer/ humorist’s many worldwide fans. This touching Suite represents a culmination of sorts “after a lifetime of entering sketches for such a piece into my notebooks,” Schickele writes in his entertaining program notes. Richard Danielpour’s moving Clarinet Quintet (“The Last Jew in Hamadan”) was composed with Danielpour’s memories of his childhood in Iran in mind. (The members of his family who escaped the country were the lucky ones.) Aaron Jay Kernis’ intriguing Perpetual Chaconne reflects his fascination with the variety of approaches composers have used to develop and vary their ideas over the ages.

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REVIEW:

It was a surprise to learn that Peter Schickele was 79 when he wrote Spring Forward. It sounds very much what you would expect from a young composer, so Schickele is obviously still young at heart. He is also a humourist, and that also shows in this truly magical and delightful quintet.

The quintet is in five movements, each an absolute delight. Once you know about Schickele’s humourist side, you can see where the fun he injects into the composition comes from. He is clearly a worthy successor to both Gerard Hoffnung and Victor Borge.

Richard Danielpour is an extremely thoughtful tunesmith with some truly original ideas. This quintet is no exception, with its intriguing subtitle The Last Jew in Hamadan. Hamadan is a town in Iran where the composer’s father and maternal grandfather were born. It once had a sizeable Jewish population, and is in fact the biblical city of Esther. But over time that population has shrunk so much that once — on reading in the New York Times that there were but 13 Jews still living there — Richard Danielpour realised that there would soon be none at all left. Hence his telling title.

There is a sad and fragile beauty in this music that is infectious, along with a sense of regret that things have changed so much for the worse since 1979. The music peters out as if all energy has been lost.

Aaron Jay Kernis's quintet begins lyrically enough but soon becomes full of nervous energy and restlessness, which slows down when the theme seems to have become worn out. It then gathers a new momentum. Its lyricism returns for much of this second period but eventually the fractious nature resumes. The theme appears as a fragmented entity which then once again seems to run out of steam in the quintet’s closing minutes, and the work fades away to a whispered ending. I wish my musical understanding was sufficient to discuss the technical side but I can say that I enjoyed it, and always applaud composers who continue to explore new ways of expression.

All three quintets are performed by three extremely talented ensembles. The unifying element is David Shifrin as clarinettist. This hugely experienced performer rises to every challenge in these three quite different works, and everyone involved in the entire project deserves accolades for their performances. This is a disc that challenges the listener to give the closest attention to the music but pays off in a rewarding experience of three composers all of whom have produced thoroughly engaging and contrasting works.

– MusicWeb International (Steve Arloff)

Since Grammy-winning San Francisco Symphony Chorus Director Ragnar Bohlin founded his own topflight chamber choir Cappella SF in 2014, a new dimension of a cappella choral excellence has graced the bay Area’s (and the nation’s) musical scene. Timeless- the ensemble’s third album for Delos- offers choral fans and history-minded classical music aficionados a rare smorgasbord of choral compositions encompassing every musical period of the past millennium. Selections range from the chant-based music of Hildegard von Bingen and Guillaume de Machaut to stunning pieces by such distinguished living composers as Arvo Part, Eric Whitacre, Frank Ticheli and Ola Gjeilo- and all points in between. Any serious music lover who wishes to trace the evolution of Western choral musicfrom its ancient beginnings to contemporary times will find this stunning new album to be a truly ear-grabbing revelation. “I frankly was so captivated by the performances- above all, the beautiful sound and clear articulation of the parts- that I barely noticed the change from one composer to another…” (San Francisco Classical Voice)

Clarinetist Danny Granados was a remarkable musician as well as a passionate arts administrator. While serving as chief financial officer of the Houston Symphony Orchestra, he made this recording with the Fidelis String Quartet (all orchestra members) and friends. But the album was put on hold when Danny became ill with cancer. After he passed away last year, the recording’s remaining players resolved to release it as a memorial tribute to their dear friend and colleague. Hence this very moving and attractive album of masterpieces by Johannes Brahms, Astor Piazzolla and Osvaldo Golijov: a program that explores common threads between the works of three prominent, yet very different composers. The result is a release that will both ravish listeners’ ears and touch their hearts.

Also available on Blu-ray

Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky
THE NUTCRACKER

"One of the very best seasonal treats for children and adults alike, the Royal Ballet’s Nutcracker is a handsome, magical, thoroughly traditional rendering of ETA Hoffmann’s immortal if deeply strange story." -- Sunday Express

This all-time ballet favourite, in which young Clara is swept into a fantasy adventure when one of her Christmas presents comes to life, is at its most enchanting in Peter Wright’s glorious production – as fresh as ever in its 25th year. Tchaikovsky’s ravishing score, period designs by Julia Trevelyan Oman (including an ingenious magical Christmas tree), an exquisite Sugar Plum Fairy (Miyako Yoshida) and chivalrous Prince (Steven McRae), the mysterious Drosselmeyer (Gary Avis) and vibrant dancing by The Royal Ballet make for a captivating performance. Filmed in High Definition and recorded in true surround sound.

The Sugar Plum Fairy – Miyako Yoshida
Nephew / Nutcracker – Ricardo Cervera / Steven McRae
The Prince – Steven McRae
Drosselmeyer – Gary Avis

The Royal Ballet
The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
Koen Kessels, conductor

Peter Wright, choreographer and director
(after Lev Ivanov)

Recorded live at the Royal Opera House, November and December 2009.

Bonus:
- Cast gallery
- Rehearsing at White Lodge
- Peter Wright tells the story of The Nutcracker

Picture format: NTSC 16:9 anamorphic
Sound format: LPCM Stereo 2.0 / DTS 5.0
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Menu language: English
Subtitles: English, French, German, Spanish
Running time: 127 mins
No. of DVDs: 1

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.

Classical Music

First released in May 2020, Piotr Beczala’s PENTATONE debut album Vincerò! has been one of the must 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. Initially released on SACD, the album now returns in a more affordable Stereo version. Global star tenor Piotr Beczala presents Vincerò!, the first fruit of his exclusive collaboration with PENTATONE. Vincerò! is a collection of heart-wrenching opera arias by Puccini, Mascagni, Leoncavallo, Giordano and Cilea. For Beczala, this recording documents his vocal transition from the lyrical tenor repertoire to the more dramatic roles of Verismo, and thus simultaneously marks a significant new chapter in his stage career. Beczala is accompanied by the Cor de la Generalitat Valenciana and the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana, led by maestro Marco Boemi; an extraordinary singer’s conductor who has worked with the greatest vocalists of our age.

During his legendary tenure at the New York Philharmonic from 1958 to 1969, Leonard Bernstein composed only two works, Symphony No. 3: Kaddish (1963) and Chichester Psalms (1965). He had dedicated Kaddish to the memory of John F. Kennedy shortly after his assassination, and when Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis asked Bernstein to compose a piece for the 1971 inauguration of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., he was eager to honor the occasion with a new, large-scale work because he knew he had always wanted "to compose a service of one sort or another." The son of Russian-Jewish parents, a social liberal, and lifelong activist, Bernstein made a surprising choice: the Roman Catholic Mass. But instead of a straightforward, purely musical setting of the Latin liturgy, he created a broadly eclectic theatrical event by placing the 400-year-old religious rite into a tense, dramatic dialog with music and lyrics of the 20th century vernacular, using this dialectic to explore the crisis in faith and cultural breakdown of the post-Kennedy era.

By the late 1960s, the country had become polarized over U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. A powerful anti-war movement swept the nation, fueled by outrage at the draft, the massive casualties, atrocities such as the Mai Lai Massacre, incursions into Laos and Cambodia, the imprisonment of conscientious objectors and activists, and in 1970, the Kent State shootings. These turbulent times produced a restless youth culture that hungered for a trustworthy government and for spiritual authority that reflected their values. MASS gave them a voice.

Six months before the scheduled premiere, MASS was far from completion. Needing a collaborator, Bernstein decided to ask the young composer-lyricist Stephen Schwartz to work with him on the text. Schwartz had recently proven his ability to transform religious stories and rituals into contemporary theater with Godspell, his hit musical based on the Gospel of St. Matthew. The two writers hit it off and worked briskly to meet the deadline.

Bernstein and Schwartz envisioned MASS not as a concert piece, but as a fully staged, dramatic pageant. They mixed sacred and secular texts, using the traditional Latin liturgical sequence as the fundamental structure and inserting tropes in contemporary English that question and challenge the prescribed service, as well as meditations that demand time for reflection. They took the Tridentine Mass, a highly-ritualized Catholic rite meant to be recited verbatim, and applied to it a very Jewish practice of debating and arguing with God. The result was a piece that powerfully communicated the confusion and cultural malaise of the early 1970s, questioning authority and advocating for peace.

In MASS, the ceremony is performed by a Celebrant accompanied by a formal choir, a boys' choir, acolytes, and musicians. His congregation of disaffected youth (the "Street Chorus") sings the tropes that challenge the formal ecclesiastic dogma of the Church. As the tension grows and the Celebrant becomes more and more vested, the cynical congregants turn to him as the healer of all their ills, violently demanding peace. In a climactic moment, overwhelmed by the burden of his authority, the Celebrant hurls the sacraments to the floor and has a complete spiritual breakdown. The catharsis creates an opening for a return to the simple, pure faith with which he had begun the ritual (expressed in the sublime "A Simple Song"). Though MASS challenges divine authority, exposing its contradictions and questioning religion's relevance to contemporary life, it ultimately serves as a reaffirmation of faith and hope for universal peace.

The eclecticism of MASS's music reflects the multifaceted nature of Bernstein's career, with blues, rock, gospel, folk, Broadway and jazz idioms appearing side by side with 12-tone serialism, symphonic marches, solemn hymns, Middle Eastern dances, orchestral meditations, and lush chorales, all united in a single dramatic event with recurring musical motifs. Bernstein uses the uninhibitedly tonal rock 'n' roll of the Street Chorus to challenge the dogmatic, atonal music of the Church; ultimately, the musical argument is resolved with a glorious, tonal chorale ("Almighty Father") sung by the entire company.

MASS premiered on September 8, 1971, at the inauguration of the Kennedy Center, directed by Gordon Davidson, conducted by Maurice Peress, and choreographed by Alvin Ailey. The performance was fully staged, with over 200 participants. The pit orchestra contained the strings, percussion, a concert organ, and a "rock" organ; all of the other instrumentalists—brass, woodwinds, rock musicians— were on stage in costume and acted as members of the cast. The Street Chorus was made up of singers and dancers in contemporary dress, a 60-person robed choir filled the stage pews, and a complement of dancers costumed as Acolytes assisted the Celebrant.

During his work on MASS, Bernstein consulted with Father Dan Berrigan, a Catholic priest and anti-war activist who had been on the FBI's "10 Most-Wanted" list before being apprehended and imprisoned. In the summer of 1971, as MASS approached its premiere, the FBI warned the White House that the piece's Latin text might contain coded anti-war messages and that Bernstein was mounting a plot "to embarrass the United States government." President Nixon was strongly advised not to attend and was conspicuously absent at the premiere.

Responses to the premiere of MASS covered the spectrum. The Roman Catholic Church did not approve—some cities cancelled performances under pressure from their local Catholic churches—while other prominent clergy declared their support for the piece. Certain music critics disapproved of the mixing of genres, while others found the work to be inspired. For the most part, the audiences were deeply moved, experiencing firsthand the shared, communal journey of the composition.

Over the years, the ideas and dissent embodied in MASS, which were so threatening to the political and religious establishments in the volatile early-1970s, have become a more accepted part of spiritual and political discourse. MASS came full circle when, in 2000, Pope John Paul II requested a performance at the Vatican. Its radical mixing of musical styles, too, has also become less shocking and more accepted in the musical sphere. Time has revealed MASS to be a visionary piece that continues to be relevant and move audiences as it enjoys performances around the world.

This recording showcases three new evocative works by GRAMMY Award-winning American composer Michael Daugherty, exploring the triumphs and tragedies of flight. Blue Electra is a dramatic violin concerto inspired by the sensational life and mysterious disappearance of aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart in 1937. Last Dance at the Surf is a one-movement dance symphony for orchestra that reflects upon rock 'n roll legend Buddy Holly's final performance in 1959 at the Surf Ballroom in Iowa and his tragic death in a plane crash just hours after his show. To the New World for orchestra celebrates the triumphant Apollo 11 moon mission in 1969 and Neil Armstrong's historic moonwalk. Under the baton of GRAMMY Award-winning conductor David Alan Miller, the Albany Symphony is joined by GRAMMY Award-winning violinist Anne Akiko Meyers, who performs Blue Electra with electrifying musicality and emotion.

A festive concert of great voices, this Volkslied-Edition offers on 5 CDs the most famous and most beloved German folksongs, performed by well known singers like Hermann Prey, Peter Schreier, and famous choirs, especially boys choirs, such as the Dresden Kreuzchor, Thomanerchor Leipzig and the Regensburger Domspatzen. A well done edition for all friends of choir music offered for a verys special price!

From the cello to the bassoon, the tuba to the timpani, Those Amazing Musical Instruments! takes you on an exciting musical tour! In a revised edition, including access to a brand new, exclusive website, this vibrant, colorful, comprehensive and unique book is a rich exploration of orchestral instruments. Learn about the character of each instrument, how it is constructed and played, which instruments go well together, and hear how they all sound!

With featured guide, conductor Marin Alsop, you’ll even know your heckelphone from your sackbut and your tom-tom from your tam-tam – all by spending hours of fun with words, pictures and music tracks.

Brilliant Classics proudly presents the brand-new 5-album sets series: QUINTESSENCE, attractively priced compact box sets containing essential core classical repertoire in outstanding performances. Aimed at attracting both the discerning classical connoisseur and the classical newcomer it presents the pillars of classical music: Beethoven complete symphonies, Bach Passions, Schubert symphonies, Mozart piano sonatas, Telemann Tafelmusik, Vivaldi 4 Seasons plus concertos, Shostakovich string quartets, Dvorak symphonies, Grieg Lyric Pieces, and Haydn London Symphonies. World class performers include Staatskapelle Dresden with Herbert Blomstedt, Staatskapelle Berlin with Otmar Suitner, Klara Wurtz, Hakon Austbo, Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra with Adam Fischer, Rubio Quartet and others. The fresh and colorful artwork is eye-catching while the booklet contains liner notes in English. A new series at an unbeatable price! The present installment features Antonin Dvořák’s complete symphonies performed by the Staatskapelle Berlin under the baton of Otmar Suitmer.

Excerpt of a review from a previously released edition of this cycle:

Suitner’s versions of the symphonies came as a big and really happy surprise. Sample the vitality and freshness Suitner brings to the scherzo of the Second Symphony, or the dramatic power at the climax of the Seventh’s first movement. The performances are all of a piece: vibrant, propulsive, wonderfully played, without a single dead spot or interpretive misstep. They belong in any serious Dvořák collection.

-- ClassicsToday (David Hurwitz)

A New Yorker Notable Recording of 2022!

French grand-opéra specialist Marc Minkowski has at last recorded Robert le Diable, a jewel of the genre. A triumph at its premiere in November 1831, it captivated contemporaries, and its influence stretched as far as Verdi and Wagner. An imposing international cast brings this repertory cornerstone to life: John Osborn portrays a Robert at once valiant and tender, Amina Edris reveals her full resources in the perilous role of Alice, while idiomatic performances by Nicolas Courjal, Erin Morley and Nico Darmanin complete a line-up offering the most vivid contrasts of tessitura. Against the backdrop of a medieval legend, this fantastical work depicts a confrontation between Good and Evil, pitting against each other a group of protagonists torn between desire and duty. A foundational score of musical Romanticism – performed more than 750 times in the nineteenth century at the Paris Opéra alone – is now gradually emerging from oblivion.

REVIEWS:

In these days of cash-strapped opera houses and risk-averse labels, recordings of the grander grand operas are rarities. Flawless ones are even rarer, making this breathtaking and ground-breaking new Palazzetto Bru Zane recording of Meyerbeer’s Robert le Diable a cause for celebration. In Marc Minkowski’s experienced hands, Meyerbeer’s gothic saga fairly flies off the page, every bar fizzing with energy and with set pieces that burst over our heads like fireworks. Add an outstandingly talented cast, headed by John Osborn as Robert and Erin Morley as Isabelle, and you have a set with award-winner written all over it.

-- Limelight

Musicians savour each other’s company in inspiring music: happy birthday!

When Trevor Pinnock first recorded the Brandenburgs with the English Concert for DG Archiv in 1982, period performances of these works were relatively rare; today they abound, and it has become harder to make a mark in music that does not readily admit a wide range of interpretations. Not that Pinnock need worry about that at this point in his career. This new recording, made with an ensemble hand-picked for the job, is a 60th-birthday present to himself, and is just what such a project should be: talented musicians relishing each other’s company in music of truly inspiring greatness.

Unsurprisingly, it reflects the increased playing standards of 25 years of period-instrument growth. Only Pinnock himself remains from that first line-up, and while the players then were a high-class team (Simon Standage, Lisa Beznosiuk and Michael Laird among them), the players of the European Brandenburg Ensemble include some of the finest of today’s Baroque chamber players, and there is a relaxed expertise about their performances which seems to allow them to communicate directly and without technical or ideological hindrance. A hint of over-exuberant thickness in the texture of Concerto No 1 is perhaps a reflection of this, but elsewhere it is good to hear playing from the likes of violinist Kati Debretzeni, flautist Katy Bircher and the excellent David Blackadder on trumpet that is bold and confident without straying into coarseness. The clarity achieved in Nos 4, 5 and 6 also has a more natural air than the “studio?y” balance of the Archiv set, no doubt helped by the decision to use a violone at pitch rather than the more usual octave below. The pensive violin improvisation which links the two movements of No 3 is surely a miscalculation, feeling like more of a hold-up than it need be; more lastingly refreshing to my ears were the subtle relaxations of tension in the first movement of No 6, these days so often given the hard-drive treatment.

This is not a Brandenburg set that sets out to score points, and all that is needed from us is to sit back and enjoy its relaxed, celebratory spirit.

-- Lindsay Kemp, Gramophone [3/2008]