Haydn composed more than twenty operas, mainly for the sumptuous theatre at Eszterháza, the palace of his long-time employers, the princes of Esterházy. Even so, his work in the operatic field remains largely neglected. This disc focuses on an even more closely guarded secret: the so-called 'insertion arias' that Haydn wrote for inclusion in operas by other composers. The rarely, if at all, recorded music includes Haydn's three contributions to La Circe, an opera pasticcio which combined music by several composers, and six of the surviving insertion arias. Among these is Infelice sventurata, written for an opera by Cimarosa, and one of Haydn's finest arias, here movingly performed by Miah Persson. The Swedish soprano shares the greater part of the programme with the Swiss tenor Bernard Richter. The latter in Ah, tu non senti, amico takes on what, according to the initiated liner notes of conductor and Haydn specialist Manfred Huss, 'may be the highest drama in eighteenth-century music - ghostly and spine-chilling in a Hitchcockian manner.' In contrast, Huss describes the concluding tercet from La Circe as 'a tremendously witty and energetic and also dramatic scene that sounds like Mozart - or perhaps even like Rossini'. This varied programme thus becomes an illustration of Mozart's verdict on Haydn as an opera composer: 'Nobody can do all of this - flirt and unsettle, provoke laughter and deep emotions - as well as Haydn!' It is presented by Manfred Huss and his period band Haydn Sinfonietta Wien as part of a Haydn bicentenary celebration, which includes four previous, highly acclaimed releases. The opera fragment Acide (BIS-SACD-1812) was called 'a wonderful tribute to Joseph Haydn' by the reviewer of MusicWeb International, who also found Bernard Richter 'outstanding' in the title role. The review of the marionette opera Philemon und Baucis (BIS-SACD-1813) on ClassicsToday.com described the work as 'exceptionally moving stuff, full of Sturm und Drang, with ... music of substantial humanity and warmth.' And the playing of Haydn Sinfonietta Wien on the two collections of overtures (BIS-CD-1818) and chamber works (BIS-CD-1796/98) has been unanimously praised: 'the ideal interpreters for these works' (Pizzicato) and 'sensational... lively tempos, gutsy brass and timpani, perky winds, and stunning music' (ClassicsToday.com).

Hindemith Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestra, John Neschling Orchestral Works

The Swedish baritone Peter Mattei has made a formidable reputation for himself performing at the most prestigious opera houses in the world: the Metropolitan, Teatro alla Scala and Covent Garden, to mention but a few. He first came to the attention of an international audience when Peter Brook selected him as his Don Giovanni, for an Aix-en-Provence production which was later filmed. Something of a 'director's opera singer', Mattei has also worked with Ingmar Bergman, Michael Haneke and Patrice Chereau, and regularly astounds audiences with his exceptional acting skills, coupled as they are with a voice of rare beauty. In the recording studio he is, however, a more rarely seen guest. On this his first and long-awaited disc of arias, he revels in the rich opportunities offered by the baritone literature, performing a selection of his favourite arias and roles. Lovelorn young men and cynical libertines, friends faithful unto death and innocent victims of oppression - all of these are brought to life as one of today's finest operatic baritones displays his entire range with the eminent support of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and Lawrence Renes on the podium

During the eighteenth century the cello gradually emerged from the anonymity of the continuo group, and by the beginning of the Romantic era the instrument had become an indispensable tool for composers. Robert Schumann, who had himself taken cello lessons, was very fond of it, describing is as a 'beautiful instrument'; and Johannes Brahms, who acquired considerable skill as a cellist, praised it's 'masculine, serious character'. It is therefore to be hoped that neither composer would object to Christian Polt�ra's sensitive adaptations of their works. Schumann and Brahms wrote three violin sonatas each, both choosing D minor as the key of one of them. These D minor works are the ones that Polt�ra - together with Kathryn Stott, whose piano parts remain unchanged - offers on this disc. The two sonatas are separated by the movements that the two composers contributed to the collaborative 'F-A-E Sonata' - Schumann's Intermezzo and Brahms's Scherzo, and Polt�ra and Stott close the disc with two songs - by Brahms and by Clara Schumann, the pianist and composer, and Robert's wife and Brahms's lifelong friend.

Bach's Das Wohltemperierte Klavier has been called "The Old Testament" of the piano literature and presents, in more ways than one, a pinnacle to be climbed by pianists and harpsichordists alike. As a leading accordion player with an astonishingly wide-ranging repertoire, Mie Miki has now accepted the challenge, selecting twelve of the 48 pairs of preludes and fugues. For BIS Mie Miki has previously recorded Bach's Italian Concerto, and as she did then, she performs the music from the original keyboard score without making any alterations to facilitate the transition to the accordion. The result is ear-opening - the accordion's capacity for sustained notes brings out Bach's fugal counterpoint, while the fast and light action of the instrument lends a particular fleetness to the preludes.

A leading authority on Bach, conductor Masaaki Suzuki now tackles his first album by a twentieth century composer. Collaborating with the acclaimed ensemble Tapiola Sinfonietta, Suzuki has chosen the works of Stravinsky for this release. Tracks include Pulcinella Suite, Apollon Musagete, and Concerto in D for Strings.

Ottorino Respighi was a highly prolific twentieth century Italian composer. Despite composing during the same time as his more dissonant contemporaries, Respighi had a deep interest in music of the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, which led his compositions to be based on the tonalities of these time periods. Respighi is most remembered for his Roman trilogy (Fountains of Rome, Pines of Rome, and Roman Festivals) which was composed between 1916 and 1928. All of his orchestral works, however, display the same level of masterful composition which made him famous. This album focuses on his work Sinfonia drammatica. The epic score takes around an hour to perform, and is scored for a large-scale orchestra. Both of these are reasons that the work has been performed and recorded much less than Respighi’s other works. In addition to the Sinfonia drammatica, this release includes the more widely known Belfagor Overture. This work, composed in 1924, reutilizes material from an opera of the same name which had been poorly received in 1923.

2020 saw the release of the first installment in this three-album traversal of Beethoven’s violin sonatas – a disc which has garnered distinctions such as Choc de Classica and Cum Laude (Luister), with performances that ‘wed classical verve to a profoundly Romantic spirit’ (Gramophone) in ‘recordings that are conversations by a perfect instrumental pairing’ (BBC Music Magazine). As Frank Peter Zimmermann and Martin Helmchen open the second disc, they do so with the iconic Spring Sonata, Op. 24. Completed in 1801, the work proved immediately popular with a second edition appearing only months after the first publication. There were also numerous arrangements for a variety of forces – including a song based on motifs from the sonata’s slow movement. Soon after completing Op. 24, Beethoven began work on a set of three sonatas of which the first two are included on this album. Musically the Op. 30 sonatas continue the development that had begun with the Spring Sonata towards a contrast-rich, symphonic style. Beethoven originally planned to end the first and shortest of the three with the expansive movement that later became the finale of the great Kreutzer Sonata. As this would clearly have ruined the proportions of the work, he eventually replaced it with a set of variations. Closing this album is the second sonata of Op. 30, in C minor. It is the most important of the set; a genuine Grande Sonate in four movements, and an early example of Beethoven’s ‘heroic’ style.

REVIEW:

This is one of the most responsive partnerships I’ve heard in these sonatas, and I’ve heard some really outstanding ones. The togetherness of these two artists in precision of timing and harmonic vibration in matters of phrasing and dynamics is an amazing thing to experience.

-- Fanfare

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Import Hybrid-SACD pressing.

Those who enjoyed the London Baroque's 1985 Harmonia Mundi recording of Bach's trio sonatas needn't worry about duplication on this new BIS offering. This time violinist Richard Gwilt has transcribed six of Bach's sonatas BWV 525-530 that survive in manuscript form for organ (which scholarship has since revealed were transcriptions themselves). Also unlike the London Baroque's previous recording, Gwilt has scored no wind parts in favor of a more straightforward "classic combination" of two violins and continuo. What has not changed is the evident passion and plain joy the group still continues to bring to Bach.

A comparison of Gwilt's transcription of Sonata BWV 525 with the equally lovely though very different recent BMC offering by the Gyöngyössy-Hadady-Lakatos-Dobozy ensemble (see review Q5061) not only testifies to the versatility and durability of Bach's music, it also explains why because of those possibilities so many musicians return to it. First, the London Baroque account is performed on period violins while the G-H-L-D ensemble utilizes a modern flute and oboe. The tempos also vary, with the London Baroque favoring slightly swifter tempos throughout, particularly in the opening and closing movements. Both of these widely differing interpretations are equally captivating and offer much to enjoy; choice will depend strictly on whether you prefer the more crisp-sounding, sprightlier performance on BIS or the gentler, more pensive wind account on BMC. My advice is to not miss out on either; and while you're at it, add the sumptuously diabolical Rare Fruits Council recording on Astrée/Naïve for a trilogy of Bach trio sonata heaven!

BIS's sound is up to its usual audiophile standards. Gwilt's engaging notes are on par with his equally stylish fiddle playing and the shining performances of veteran colleagues violinist Ingrid Seifert, cellist Charles Medlam, and relative newcomer, harpsichordist Terence Charlston. A winner!
--John Greene, ClassicsToday.com

Born in 2000, Swedish violinist Johan Dalene is already making an impact on the international scene. His refreshingly honest musicality, combined with an ability to engage with musicians and audiences alike, has won him many admirers. Johan began playing the violin at the age of four and made his professional concerto debut three years later. A student at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, he has also worked closely with mentors including Janine Jansen, Leif Ove Andsnes and Gidon Kremer. Johan has been a prize winner at a number of competitions, most recently the prestigious Carl Nielsen Competition at which he won First Prize. During the finals of the Nielsen competition Johan performed Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D major, a work which he had already recorded for BIS two months earlier, in January 2019. On this debut recording, Johan plays with his ‘local band’: Norrköping Symphony Orchestra, known from many acclaimed recordings on BIS. The album closes with Samuel Barber’s lyrical and contemplative Violin Concerto from 1939.

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REVIEWS:

From the shaping of his solo entrance in the Tchaikovsky alone there’s a ‘presence’ about Johan Dalene’s playing that announces a musician of special sensibilities. The most striking thing about this young Swedish player is the complete absence of showiness or indeed any sense of virtuosity on display. The Barber really suits Dalene. it is testament to a maturity way beyond his years that he comes close to breaking your heart with it.

– Gramophone

Three things strike this listener about violinist Johan Dalene. First of all, he produces a beautiful, rich, sound – the instrument really sings. Second, and no surprise, the technical demands of these two works hold no fear for him. Third, his playing, though full of individual character, is refreshingly direct and simple, as if his primary aim is to fulfil the wishes of the composer.

Tchaikovsky frequently repeats tiny melodic fragments in this movement, to the point that a previous generation of violinists thought they knew better and settled on a number of tiny cuts. I’m pleased to say that this disfiguring trend is now disappearing and that Dalene plays everything as written. The close of the concerto is as exciting as you will hear anywhere.

– MusicWeb International

Alexandre Kantorow released his first album for BIS in 2016, performing Liszt's piano concertos to critical acclaim: "I'm here to tell you that Alexandre Kantorow is Liszt reincarnated" wrote one impressive reviewer, in Fanfare Magazine. Not yet 20 years old, the French pianist and son of violinist and conductor Jean-Jacques Kantorow now explores his Russian roots, in a recital that opens with Rachmaninov's weighty First Piano Sonata, inspired by Goethe's play Faust, and its three main characters, the scholar Faust, his beloved Gretchen and Mephistopheles, the Devil's emissary. The nostalgic intimacy of Méditation and Passé Iointain, from Tchaikovsky's Op. 72 collection, offers respite from the drama, but tension returns with Guido Agosti's virtuosic piano arrangement of three extracts from Stravinsky's Firebird. Kantorow closes his Russian recital with Mily balakirev's "oriental fantasy" Islamey, one of the iconic works of the piano literature. Fiendishly difficult, the piece famously inspired Ravel to write something that would be even harder to play (his gaspard de la nuit). A committed Russian nationalist, Balakirev himself found the inspiration for Islamey during a journey to the Caucasus when he was introduced to the local music tradition.