Clemency, a chamber opera for five singers and string orchestra in one act; composed 2009-10 and the third operatic collaboration between composer James MacMillan and poet Michael Symmons Roberts to date – is a work exploring a central but enigmatic Old Testament episode. The composer has commented that Clemency is set in the present day and ‘is not intended as an old Hollywood style Biblical drama. Abraham and Sarah are modern people who are visited by three strange but modern figures that, it turns out, have something terroristic about them. There is something of the ancient and the modern in the piece; the ancient, Biblical tale but also the kinds of thing people face today in many parts of the world.’ For the first U.S. production and its world premiere recording, Boston Lyric Opera, with the approval of both composer and librettist, decided to introduce the figure of Hagar, servant to Sarah but also the mother of Abraham’s first child, Ishmael. This is done by incorporating a version of Schubert’s early song Hagar’s Lament as a prelude to this opera, challenging us to measure the impact of our lives in a modern world that continues to be marked politically and spiritually by acts of mercy and acts of vengeance.

With this disc, Miklós Spányi completes C.P.E. Bach's set of ‘Zweyte Fortsetzung’ Sonatas, in itself a continuation of two previous sets (Wq 50 and 51). The composer himself clearly regarded the 18 sonatas of these sets as a major achievement. All of them are substantial works but the three included here might be considered the most diverse and original of the entire series. Bach assembled the Wq 52 set for publication in 1763 but Sonata No.4 had in fact been composed twenty years earlier, while No.5 and No.6 are of a later date. Together the three works exhibit Bach’s inexhaustible technique of varying melodies and textures, but they also display new structures and harmonic adventures. Following them on this disc are two of C.P.E. Bach's last compositions in the sonata genre, composed after he had left his post at the court of Frederick the Great in Berlin to take up that of Director of Music in Hamburg. Although Bach at this time more and more often performed on the fortepiano, he still favoured the clavichord, and as late as 1786, when the Sonata in C minor, Wq 65/49 was completed, he specified the use of the clavichord vibrato known as Bebung in the manuscript score. Throughout this series, Miklós Spányi has often opted for a clavichord – a copy of a rather late eighteenth-century instrument, built in the Silbermann tradition reaching back to some fifty years earlier. This choice has endeared him to many clavichord lovers, including the reviewer in BBC Music Magazine who about an earlier volume wrote: 'Spányi's ultra-sensitive touch adds magic on this delicate instrument. Gentle tonal subtlety provides rich rewards.'

The Chinese pianist Chen Sa (also known internationally as Sa Chen) has received much acclaim for her interpretations of composers such as Chopin, Rachmaninov and Ravel, but on the present disc she makes something of a return to her roots. In a (mostly) Chinese programme she presents a series of works – both solo and concertante – of which several deal with memories, nostalgia and the recreation of impressions. Opening with the only non-Chinese work – albeit here in a transcription for Chinese orchestra – Chen Sa takes us to Fazil Say's Anatolia, as it appears in the Turkish pianist-composer's Third Piano Concerto. A group of solo works by Chinese composers follows, with Hsiao Tyzen of Taiwan (b. 1938) and Wang Xiaohan of Beijing (b. 1980) both exploring their respective memories of home and of childhood. With Impromptu, the Australian-based Julian Yu took on the task of recreating his own improvisation into a written-out composition, while his colleague Chen Qigang, resident in France, found the inspiration for his work in the world of Chinese opera. The music of Chinese opera, in its many forms, also informs the closing work on the disc. Wang Xilin's Concerto for Piano and Orchestra received its première in 2010 from Chen Sa and the Basel Sinfonietta, but is here recorded in a version for Chinese orchestra. The concerto was conceived out of the composer's deep regret of the Cultural Revolution, which ended the careers and even the lives of so many musicians of his own generation. (Wang Xilin was born in 1937.) In the two concertos, Chen Sa receives the eminent support of the Taipei Chinese Orchestra under its chief conductor Chung Yiu-Kwong. This team has appeared on four previous releases from BIS, and has received worldwide critical acclaim for their performances, 'evoking delicate playfulness, high drama, or the tranquillity of a misty Chinese valley with equal atmosphere' (Classic FM Magazine) and 'producing a rich multihued soundscape, a vibrant rhythmic drive, and spectacular ensemble virtuosity' (American Record Guide).

These pieces aren’t nearly so unfamiliar, on disc at least, as they used to be. Metamorphoseon is a theme and variations on an attractive, modal tune. It was commissioned by the Boston Symphony for its 5oth anniversary celebrations, part of an amazing crop of 20th century masterpieces that included Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms, Honegger’s First Symphony, Hindemith’s Concert Music for Strings and Brass, Hanson’s Romantic Symphony, Prokofiev’s Fourth Symphony, and Roussel’s Third Symphony. You might call it Respighi’s answer to Elgar’s Enigma Variations in the sense that it’s a rich, colorful, thoroughly symphonic score that hangs together quite well. It deserves to be better known still.

The Ballad of the Gnomes must be Respighi’s least familiar tone poem; it’s only been recorded a couple of times previously. Forget the grotesque story–Mrs. Gnome decapitates Mr. Gnome–and simply enjoy the typically glitzy orchestration and good tunes. We are still waiting for a complete recording of Belkis, Queen of Sheba (the score is now available from Editions Höflich in Munich), and until that comes along this standard, four-movement suite will do nicely.

All of the performances here are expert, but conductor John Neschling deserves particular credit for keeping things movement purposefully forward in the first two long, and mostly slowish, movements of the Belkis suite. The same work’s vulgar (let’s not kid ourselves) concluding Danza orgiastica also sounds more musical than usual–less like a back-alley gang bang–but with no loss of energy. The Liège orchestra plays with great bravura, and BIS’s SACD sonics, typically, are just terrific. In short, a very worthy entry in this ongoing series.

-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

Biber’s ‘Rosary Sonatas’ for violin and basso continuo stand alone in the violin literature and in music history, offering a unique combination of programmatic material and the use of scordatura (tuning a string instrument differently than the standard tuning). Consisting of fifteen sonatas for violin and basso continuo, and a closing Passacaglia for solo violin, the cycle was presented by Biber to his employer, the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, in a handsome manuscript sometime before 1687. Through the copper engravings inserted at the head of each sonata in the manuscript depicting key moments in the lives of Christ and the Virgin Mary, the music has become associated with the Catholic Mysteries of the Rosary. As the manuscript is missing its title page, the collection has become known under a variety of names: the Rosary, Mystery, Biblical or even Copper-Engraving Sonatas. The moods and emotions of this highly expressive music range from Mary's wonderment at the Annunciation to the agony of Christ in the garden of Gethsemane, the crucifixion and the subsequent resurrection, celebrated in a fantasy on the hymn Surrexit Christus hodie. Through the use of fifteen different tunings of the violin – one for each of the fifteen sonatas before the return to standard tuning in the closing Passacaglia – Biber achieves a variety of timbres, which combined with his highly imaginative treatment of the violin makes for absorbing listening. Appearing for the first time on BIS, the Greek-American violinist Ariadne Daskalakis has made a number of previous recordings, on baroque as well as modern violin. She is here supported by her fellow members in Ensemble Vintage Köln, a Cologne-based group of musicians specialized in baroque music. As a coupling to Biber's Rosary Sonatas – with a duration of almost 120 minutes – the ensemble has chosen to include the only extant violin sonata by George Muffat, Biber's colleague in the service of the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg.

Bach Collegium Japan and Masaaki Suzuki’s fifth volume in their commendable survey of Bach’s vocal music with a collection of his festive secular Birthday cantatas, composed to honor a broad array of personages and including pieces presented as musical dramas where the soloists embody characters from Greek mythology, here sung by Joanne Lunn, soprano; Robin Blaze, counter-tenor; Makoto Sakurada, tenor; Dominik Wörner, bass.

The Swedish recorder virtuoso Dan Laurin has demonstrated his remarkable versatility on some thirty recordings for BIS, ranging from a nine-disc set with 17th-century composer Jacob van Eyck's complete Der Fluyten Lust-hof to the recent Rock that Flute, with music for recorder and strings written in 2013 by the Dutch composer Chiel Meijering. During a recording career that stretches over almost 30 years, Laurin keeps returning to one particular set of works, however: the concertos by Antonio Vivaldi. Three of the works (the Concertos RV 441, 443 and 444) included on his latest release he has recorded more than once before, with ensembles such as the Drottningholm Baroque Ensemble, Bach Collegium Japan and Arte dei Suonatori. For his latest 'take' on these favourites Laurin has joined forces with the young and vibrant Norwegian string ensemble 1B1 (shorthand for Ensemble Bjergsted 1). As he explains in his own liner notes for the present disc, he was inspired by his work on transcribing and performing Vivaldi’s Four Seasons: ‘A close reading of RV441 and RV443–445 reveals great similarities between these works and The Four Seasons: sudden changes of moods, turbulent emotions, burlesque whims mixed with sublime beauty and elegance… My aim here is to explore the recorder concertos with the same freedom and spontaneity that characterize the modern-day approach to the Seasons.’ Laurin’s recording of the Seasons has been called ‘undoubtedly the best transcription to date’ (Diapason) and ‘never hackneyed, but instead invigoratingly fresh and vibrant’ (Clarino), verdicts which can only fuel the expectations concerning this his latest version of the recorder concertos.

Known for his outstanding orchestral works, Jon Leifs draws inspiration from the naturally occurring phenomena of his native Iceland. This disc contains all thirty-two of the composer’s solo songs. Tenor Finnur Bjarnason is joined by pianist Orn Magnusson for this album.

Norwegian violinist Peter Herresthal holds a unique dedication to music of modern day. He has become known as an exceptional interpreter of contemporary violin works through his previously released concertos and chamber works. This release combines two previous digital-only releases by Herresthal, featuring the work of composers Henrik Hellstenius and Orjan Matre. The violin concertos featured on this album were written expressly for Peter Herresthal. The Stavanger Symphony Orchestra conducted by Rolf Gupta join Herresthal for this recording.

Swedish Baroque composer Johan Helmich Roman (1694-1758) has been called both “the father of Swedish music” and “the Swedish Handel.” He led the Swedish Opera throughout Sweden’s Age of Liberty, and enjoyed a successful compositional career. During Roman’s lifetime, the most common wind instrument in Stockholm was the recorder. The instrument was utilized in every aspect of musical life. The transverse flute, however, was reserved for the noble and upper classes. While Roman’s sonatas were originally composed for a bourgeoisie performance on transverse flute, Dan Laurin performs these beautiful works on the recorder. In his liner notes, he describes his affection for Roman’s music: “complex emotional contexts are contrasted with folk music forms such as the villanelle or piva - the music is asymmetrical, irregular and full of unexpected twists, sudden pauses and cadences.”

One of Finalnd’s most versatile musicians, Jaakko Kuusisto has an extensive discography with BIS where he has recorded as a chamber musician, soloist, concertmaster, conductor, composer, and arranger. This release features Kuusisto as both composer and performer. One can hear Kuusisto’s nods to some of his hero composers including Stravinsky, Sibelius, and Prokofiev, fusing together centuries of Western music to form his own unique style. Joining Kuusisto for this recording is the Meta4 String Quartet, who frequently performs Kuusisto’s works, and pianist Paavali Jumppanen who has written extensive liner notes for this release.

While the music that Mozart is most known for was composed in his late period after his move to Vienna, the composer spent two thirds of his life in Salzburg and while living there wrote around 470 of the 626 compositions listed in the Kochel catalogue. 45 of Mozart’s symphonies were composed in Salzburg, a great deal of which were written for the Prince-Archbishop, who was Mozart’s employer. Three of these symphonies, Nos. 21, 27, and 34, are featured on this recording. The Haydn Sinfonietta Wien, conducted by Manfred Huss, performs on period instruments for this recording. Their previous recordings for BIS have garnered them critical acclaim: “never less than lustrous” (International Record Review) “idiomatic and alert” (Classica-Repertoire).

A profoundly spiritual composer, Sofia Gubaidulina has said that ‘True art for me is always religious, it will always involve collaborating with God.’ As the present release demonstrates, it is therefore less than fruitful to try to divide her music into sacred and secular compositions. Jauchzt vor Gott, the opening work, is here being released for the first time. The nine-minute piece for choir and organ sets three verses from Psalm 66, and opens with a long cappella section on the word jauchzt, ‘rejoice.’ At this point, the organ enters with an extensive solo involving a massive dynamic intensification, after which choir and organ continue together in music which makes the concept of contrast a determining element. As the title signals, the organ work Hell und dunkel (Light and Darkness) also explores contrasts, especially in terms of color and brightness. Composed in 1976, the work is the earliest on the disc, and it is followed by the large-scale Sonnengesang, written some twenty years later and dedicated to Mstislav Rostropovich. The choir sings the words of St. Francis of Assisi’s celebrated Canticle of the sun, but it is the solo cello that is responsible for interpreting the meaning of the text. The important solo part is performed here by Ivan Monighetti, in dialogue with the eminent NDR Chor of the North German Radio, and with the support of percussionists from Elbtonal Percussion. Philipp Ahmann conducts this work as well as Jauchzt vor Gott, with Christian Schmitt performing the organ parts.

Two of Sweden's most highly respected musicians, each in their own field, join forces on this very special disc. Classical violinist Cecilia Zilliacus has won acclaim for her recordings in magazines such as The Strad and Gramophone (Editor’s Choice), and folk musician Lena Willemark is a fixture on the Scandinavian folk and world music scene. The two open their highly original programme with Bach’s Partita in D minor in a version for voice and violin. This duo version is based on the research of the musicologist Helga Thoene, who has proposed that the celebrated Chaconne which closes the partita was written in response to the death of the composer’s first wife. Woven into Bach’s violin part are numerous quotations from various chorales, from which Willemark has devised a vocal part which she performs drawing on the strong tradition of chorale singing in Swedish folk music. Together with Cecilia Zilliacus’s violin, the clear attacks and straight-toned and direct style of singing form a final farewell, by turns dramatic and serene, to a loved companion. In order to expand their common repertoire, the two musicians approached the composer Sven-David Sandström in 2011. The result was Dansa (‘Dance’), a scene in seven sections to a text by the poet Maria Wine. Having collaborated previously with both performers, Sandström includes improvisatory passages and provides rich opportunities for the folk musician Lena Willemark to make her imprint on the music, including asking her to change over to the fiddle in one of the sections. Between these two works Cecilia Zilliacus performs a solo sonata written for her by Svante Henryson. In the course of seven movements the piece reflects the versatility of its composer, with a background in jazz, classical music and heavy metal, and allows Zilliacus to display the many facets of her own musicianship.

Selected by ECHO (the European Concert Hall Organisation) as one of its ‘Rising Stars’ of the 2009/10 season, the Swedish clarinettist Emil Jonason has become increasingly visible on the international music scene. For his first release on the BIS label he has chosen to record a concerto written for him by his compatriot Christian Lindberg, composer, conductor and legendary trombonist. As Lindberg remarks in his own note on the work, the soloist was involved at all stages of the compositional process. But the Erratic Dreams are the composer’s own – as is the figure of Mr Grönstedt, the main character of those dreams, and of the six movements that make up the colourful score. In his teens, Emil Jonason was attracted by klezmer music, and played in various klezmer bands. It was therefore a natural choice to combine Lindberg’s concerto with the Argentinian composer Osvaldo Golijov’s work The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind. In contrast to Lindberg, Golijov found inspiration in a historic figure, the medieval rabbi Isaac the Blind, and his lifelong dedication to the ideas of the Kabbalah. Golijov describes the movements of his work being written in three of the different languages spoken by the Jewish people throughout its history: Aramaic, Yiddish (‘the rich and fragile language of a long exile’) and Hebrew. The work includes references to Jewish prayers as well as to klezmer tunes and the clarinettist is specifically requested by the composer to acquaint himself with the idiom of klezmer music.

Besides the fact that they both celebrate Augustus III, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, there is a close connection between the two works included on the eighth volume of Bach's secular cantatas. On October 2nd, 1734, the King and his family made a surprise visit to Leipzig, and in all haste a festive event was planned for three days later, in celebration of the anniversary of Augustus's ascension to the Polish throne. Bach was asked to provide the musical entertainment, and consequently had to put aside the work he was busy composing...namely BWV 206 ''Schleicht, spielende Wellen'', intended for a celebration of the King's birthday on October 7th! The new cantata, Preise dein Glucke, gesegnetes Sachsen, BWV 215, is a substantial work, and it is not surprising that Bach, with only a few days to produce it, had recourse to earlier compositions: the only parts that were written completely from scratch were the recitatives, the soprano aria and the final chorus.

In the meantime, BWV 206 - the birthday cantata that Bach had to put on hold - came to good use two years later, when the King's birthday was celebrated with a concert at Zimmermann's coffee house in Leipzig. Both works are richly scored with trumpets and timpani, and here receive suitably festive performances form Bach Collegium Japan and Masaaki Suzuki.

REVIEW:

Schleicht, spielende Wellen (‘Flow, playful waves and murmur’) follows the dramma per musica template of allegory – this time with four competing rivers yearning for the primacy of the monarch’s affections. However ludicrous, Bach constructs a very significant work which Suzuki treats as an undertaking of serious critical engagement. After 22 years of intensive Bach recording, Suzuki and his forces just seem to get better.

– Gramophone

The two cello concertos by Dmitri Shsotakovich were both written for his friend Mstislav Rostropovich but whereas the first is rhythmic and virtuosic, the second is subdued and introverted. Composed in 1966, it is often regarded as a watershed work, heralding Shostakovich's final stylistic period marked by a certain sombreness and a trend towards more transparent scoring. The op. 126 concerto has become somewhat overshadowed by its older, more accessible sibling, something which also applies to the second work on this disc, for completely different reasons. Having compmleted his Cello Cocnerto No. 2 in 1945, Bohuslav Martinu was unsuccessful in his attempts to interest a leading cellist in promoting it. When the composer furthermore reworked his first cello concerto in 1955, the new version effectively obliterated all traces of the 1945 concerto, which didn't receive its first performance until 1965, six years after Martinu's death. The work is melodious with lyrical qualities, and many have interpreted it as an expression of the nostalgia the composer experienced as an exile in the U.S.A. during the last winter of the World War II.

The piano works by Isaac Albeníz range from indisputable masterpieces to highly enjoyable salon music, the composer painting with bright Spanish colours as well as the hues of Classicism or Romanticism. On eight previous volumes, Miguel Baselga has guided listeners through the music of his compatriot, earning acclaim from reviewers worldwide: ‘pianism of the highest order’ (MusicWeb-International); ‘berauschend agil und rhytmisch spannungsgeladen’ (PIANONews); ‘un pianista elegante y refinado’ (CD Compact). With the assistance of Albeníz scholar Jacinto Torres, Baselga has been able to access rare editions and scores, and his exhaustive series includes the Marcha militar by a nine-year-old Albeníz (Vol. 7), as well as the four books that make up the celebrated Iberia (Vols. 1-4) and the composer's only two scores for piano and orchestra (Vol. 6). On the present disc Baselga offers us the chance to hear the last of the three Improvisations, transcribed from a phonograph recording made by Albeníz in 1903. A large part of the programme is from the late 1880s, however, a period during which the composer was a fixture at the fashionable salons of Madrid, and composed works in which the influence of composers such as Mendelssohn, Schumann and Chopin is often evident. Recuerdos de viaje, one of the best-known works from the period, nevertheless displays the Spanish flavours that were to become one of the distinguishing features of the music of Isaac Albeníz.

Issued between 1779 and 1787, the six collections of sonatas, rondos, and fantasias “fur Kenner und Liebhaber” constitute Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach’s largest-scale publishing venture. Aimed at ‘Connaisseurs and Amateurs’, the first collection was a retrospective selection of six sonatas but when this became a commercial success Bach expanded and varied the scheme, adding rondos (a recently popular form) for the second and third collection and, in the final three collections, samples of his free fantasies. On the previous two discs in his acclaimed series, Miklós SpAnyi combined pieces from Collection 1 and 2, performing them on the clavichord (Volume 31) and the tangent piano (Volume 32). For the present disc, SpAnyi has chosen to remain with the tangent piano, an early form of the piano with strings that are struck by small wooden slips (‘tangents’). The basic sound of the instrument is reminiscent of the harpsichord, but this can be modified in a number of ways through the use of various devices. In Collection 3, Bach provided variety by alternating previously composed sonatas with newly written rondos and Miklós SpAnyi adds to this by appending an independent set of variations to the collection. Probably intended for amateur keyboard players, the Canzonetta with 6 Variations was composed in 1781, and described by Bach in the catalogue of his works as ‘Canzonetta by the Duchess of Gotha with my 6 variations’.

Up to and including Mozart, one important task for every composer not employed by the Church was to entertain. Much of Mozart’s best-loved music consists of occasional works intended for receptions and parties, balls and banquets, ceremonies and celebrations. These pieces are known to us under a number of different names: serenades, divertimenti, Nachtmusik and notturni are just some examples. In so far as these are genres, the distinctions between them are often blurred and many of them seem to have been used more or less interchangeably. But when the music is so fresh and immediate, labelling it becomes less important. In 1778, Leopold Mozart – who never missed an opportunity to impart his wisdom – wrote to his son describing what characterizes a successful piece: ‘Short, easy and popular… written in a natural, flowing and easy style – and at the same time bearing the marks of sound composition.’ That this recipe was something Wolfgang had already mastered six years earlier becomes obvious when one listens to any of the three Divertimentos recorded here, and it’s equally clear that he hadn’t forgotten it when he composed Eine kleine Nachtmusik ten years later. What Leopold doesn’t mention is playfulness, another quality that Mozart had in spades, and which Terje Tønnesen and his Camerata Nordica explore in their performances, allowing a plaintive Swedish nyckelharpa (‘keyed fiddle’) to be heard in the trio section in Eine kleine Nachtmusik and giving the timpanist an opportunity to rock the party in the closing rondo of Serenata notturna.

To date, Kalevi Aho has composed sixteen symphonies and twenty-eight concertos, several operas and a large number of chamber works – a rate of production which is all the more impressive considering the complexity and originality displayed by each new work. On this latest in a long series of BIS releases with Aho’s music, two of his most recent works are performed by the musicians of the Lapland Chamber Orchestra. The orchestra and its artistic director John Storgårds have collaborated with the composer on several projects, and the Concerto for Soprano Saxophone is a commission from the orchestra, at the suggestion of the Swedish saxophonist Anders Paulsson. A specialist on the soprano saxophone, Paulsson also demonstrated the instrument’s capabilities to Aho as part of his preparations. The Quintet for Winds and Piano was composed just over a year before the concerto and is here heard in a performance by the pianist Vainö Jalkanen, and woodwind players from the Lapland orchestra. The reason for the unusual combination of instruments is that the work was intended as a companion piece to Mozart’s quintet for the same forces. Closing the album, finally, is the almost 10-minute long Solo I for violin, the first in the composer’s series of virtuosic solo pieces for each of the instruments of the orchestra. It was composed in 1975 and receives a performance from another longtime Aho collaborator, the violinist Jaakko Kuusisto, who has previously performed the solo part of the composer’s Symphony No.3 for violin and orchestra.