Classical Music

Classical Music

Includes song(s) by various composers. Ensemble: Orphei Drängar. Conductor: Robert Sund. Soloists: Olle Persson, Folke Alin.

Classical Music

Those who've heard Masaaki Suzuki's patient, reflective journey through Bach's Partitas will find similar traits in his recordings of the French Suites. At first the breathing spaces and tiny caesuras in the Allemandes and Sarabandes strike a precious pose. Listen again, though, and you realize that Suzuki is phrasing from a singer's perspective, undoubtedly influenced by his experience conducting the Bach Passions and Cantatas.


By contrast, the Courantes, Gavottes, and Bourrées truly dance within Suzuki's sharp delineation, and each Gigue is specifically characterized. For example, Suzuki shortens the First Suite Gigue's dotted notes, imparting a sense of air and lightness to the music's French Overture pomp. And rather than treat the Fifth Suite Gigue like a virtuoso showpiece, he makes the triplets lilt in a way that allows you to tap your toes and sing along at the same time (try it). That may sound trite, but isn't what this music is all about: singing and dancing?


Suzuki observes all repeats and applies plenty of well-considered ornamentation on the second go-rounds. Though the A minor and E-flat major Suites are not official French Suites, they are as much in style and spirit, and they indisputedly fit in with their bretheren. At least Suzuki's persuasive performances make them do so. Scholarly annotations and excellent sound (the mastering's at a relatively low level, so you have to crank your volume knob up a notch or two) enhance my recommendation. In short, Suzuki's French Suites rank among these works' finest harpsichord versions on disc. His subtle keyboard artistry will grow on you, given the chance.
--Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com

If there is one Swedish composer in the early 20th century who in some way can compare with Sibelius and Nielsen, it is Wilhelm Stenhammar - incidentally a personal friend of both these towering figures in Nordic music. And in Stenhammar's production - which includes songs, piano music and large-scale orchestral works - his string quartets form a special chapter. The seven quartets (of which one, in F minor, was withdrawn by the composer soon after its first performance) were written over the space of 22 years, and mirror Stenhammar's development, from full-blown Romanticism to a more sparse and formally concentrated idiom. As a pianist, Stenhammar worked closely for many years with the Aulin Quartet, the finest Swedish string quartet of its time. (It was the Aulin Quartet that gave the first performances of all Stenhammar's quartets up to and including No.4 in A minor, Op.25.) His familiarity with the medium is evident in these works which have been described as 'the most important written between those of Brahms and Bartók', but which still remain less well-known internationally than they deserve. In a bid to change this, the Stenhammar Quartet here present the first disc in a trilogy which will include the six quartets published during the composer's lifetime, as well as the F minor quartet - for the first time on disc - and other music for string quartet. Making its first appearance on BIS, the Stenhammar Quartet was formed in 2002 and has made a name for itself in Sweden and internationally as interpreters of Stenhammar's music, as well as of core repertoire and contemporary works.

Classical Music

The Passion of St. Thomas More is a chamber opera scored for three singers and four players (on English horn, guitar, Indian harmonium, and percussion). The plot, familiar to many from A Man For All Seasons, concerns Thomas More's refusal to countenance Henry VIII's divorce of Catherine of Aragon and sign a statement of support for the king's subsequent schism with Rome, for which "crime" he was beheaded. American composer Garrett Fischer (b. 1970) focuses on the moment of decision itself and its effect on three principal characters: More (who must follow his conscience knowing the penalty for refusal to renew his loyalty to the king); his daughter Margaret (who must come to accept her father's choice); and King Henry (forced to understand that his power to compel obedience is not absolute and that More has vanquished him spiritually). These singers also take on additional roles as "dark angels", figures that elucidate the spiritual consequences and implications of the decisions that the human characters make. There's also a role for a dancer, and a prelude and postlude consisting of a lovely traditional Norwegian poem that sets the stage by recalling the "old voices" of legendary times.


Fisher's work, haunting in its simplicity, consists largely of chant-like, at times highly ornamental vocal lines (think of Hildegard of Bingen with some occasional counterpoint added and delicate instrumental accompaniments), and might superficially call to mind the music of composers such as John Tavener, save for the fact that Fisher writes music whereas Tavener patently does not. There are no screaming countertenors, pseudo-apocalyptic visions, crude tonal analogs, or obscure, autobiographically motivated sectarian philosophies forced on listeners here.


Indeed, Fisher's laudable objective clearly has been to universalize the story through a ritualistic stylization that treats the music in the most traditional way possible: not as "representation" of some abstract concept or event, but as a means of elevating the expressive impact of the text. The libretto itself, by the composer, is as simple, eloquent, and direct as his setting of it, and finds room not only for its Norwegian prelude and postlude but also for a little Latin prayer and a touch of the poetry of William Carlos Williams (among other interesting things).


The result, while admittedly (and intentionally) slow moving and largely contemplative, is an extremely touching morality play about the consequences of choice, the need to be true to one's self and follow one's own conscience, and the struggle between temporal and spiritual values. The work stands pretty squarely in the tradition of Benjamin Britten's Church Parables, and above all Holst's Savitri. Even the choice of a soprano voice for the role of Thomas More has dual validity, first as a reinterpretation of an ancient tradition of male characters playing women (as in Japanese "Noh" plays or Britten's own Curlew River), and second in order to establish the musical opposition of More and his daughter on the one hand (both sopranos) and Henry VIII (a baritone) on the other.


This beautifully recorded performance features the composer on Indian harmonium, an amazingly expressive and creamy-toned Taina Karr on English horn (no quacking or honking here!), two more excellent players, and three absolutely superb singers--none really better than the others. They present the music with tremendous concentration and also wring a surprising amount of variety from Fisher's deliberately limited resources. Perhaps the most appealing thing about The Passion of St. Thomas More is the way it gently touches on spiritual matters without ever becoming preachy or pretentious, telling a human story with words and music that truly work well together. It succeeds most of all because Fisher never, ever, falls prey to the temptation to subordinate musical values for the sake of irrelevant, unmusical, philosophical point making, and that's a remarkable achievement all by itself.
--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.

On this disc, Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune – possibly Claude Debussy’s most popular work for orchestra – is framed by two of his greatest achievements in the medium, La Mer and Images pour orchestre. All three works are programmatic, but Debussy’s concern was to create an atmosphere rather than any naturalistic likeness. The Prélude is a case in point – while taking his inspiration from a pastoral poem by Stéphane Mallarmé, Debussy famously told a conductor who wanted a more detailed explanation: ‘It’s a shepherd playing the flute, sitting on his bum in the grass!’ In La Mer, Debussy abstains from the various clichés of so many other musical depictions of water, and instead creates an immediately recognizable seascape, largely through a pioneering use of various instrumental timbres, once described as ‘an impressionism of sounding dots’. Soon after La Mer, the composer started on Images, in which he went even further: although using a large orchestra, Debussy mainly avoids big sonorities, concentrating instead on unusual sound combinations and on transparency. His aim was compose a cycle focusing on the colours of three countries, while as far as possible avoiding the clichés associated with their music. Of its three panels, the expansive middle one, Ibéria, is often performed as an independent piece, but its Spanish colouring takes on new shades when framed by Scottish mists and the freshness of spring in France. The present disc combines new recordings by Singapore Symphony Orchestra and Lan Shui with the team’s acclaimed performance of La Mer, first released in 2007 on Seascapes, a programme of sea-related works. The reviewer in American Record Guide called it ‘the most astounding, effective, and beautiful recording of La Mer I have ever heard’ and in BBC Music Magazine it was described as ‘an unequivocally world-class performance’.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Twenty years ago (on BIS LP/CD 240) we released 'The Prince's Toys', a suite for solo guitar by the composer Nikita Koshkin, who was 27 years old at the time. Now we are happy to present a complete Koshkin programme, including some of his later works: Sonata for guitar, Kyparissos and Polka Papandreaou. These three were all composed for the Greek guitarist Elena Papandreou, who here gives them their world premièr on CD. Koshkin's music is colourful with a distinctive Russian blend of romantic fervor and melancholy. In his works there are numerous references to legends, fairy tales and literary figures - such as in Usher Waltz or Kyparissos. He has a strong predilection for pastiche, which may be heard in Parade - inspired by theNew Orleans funeral procession - and Ballades, where the young Koshkin's taste for 'Celtic folk-rock' is audible. Koshkin himself is an excellent guitarist and an expert in bringing out the qualities of the instrument, often with the use of unusual techniques. In Elena Papandreou his music has found a most sympathetic interpreter, and we are proud to welcome her to BIS.

Classical Music

Includes work(s) by Max Reger. Soloists: Nobuko Imai, Ronald Brautigam.

Classical Music