C.P.E. Bach was a marvelous composer, and it's rather amazing to consider that until BIS began this estimable series, the vast majority of his more than 60 keyboard concertos remained unknown. In addition to the concertos, Bach wrote another very interesting series of works that he called "Sonatinas", which seem to be suites of movements for solo and orchestra in free form. The two included here, for example, consist of: first, an Andante ad arioso twice interrupted by keyboard solos, followed by an Allegro finale; and second, a Larghetto, Allegro, and a concluding Alla Polacca. Both are delightful miniatures. The Concerto in E-flat is a courtly work in which graceful orchestral writing alternates with brilliant solo licks, but the major offering is the big Concerto in C minor, full of C.P.E. Bach's typical turbulence, Romantic sentiment, and surprising musical syntax. Miklós Spányi plays all of these works on a delightful-sounding tangent piano (a sort of cross between a harpsichord and a piano) with his customary verve and insightful musicianship. He's very well accompanied and recorded too. Another fine entry in a very important series of recordings. --David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

This new release is the final disc in the Escher String Quartet’s traversal of Mendelssohn’s string quartets. The Strad called the first installment “A deeply rewarding release… and by any standards a distinguished one.” Later the same magazine made the sequel its recommendation in the November issue of 2015. Mendelssohn’s final quartets, Nos 5 and 6, are featured here alongside his Capriccio and Fugue. The Quartet No. 6 in F minor, Op. 80 was a special work in the composer’s eyes. The work was written in response to the unexpected death of his beloved sister, Fanny. The piece was published posthumously, as Mendelssohn suffered a number of strokes and died a month after premiering the piece.

Hugely prolific as well as widely acclaimed, Kalevi Aho has composed 30 concertos to date. Many of them are available in recordings from BIS, and the present release features two works from the past decade. The Concerto for Trombone and Orchestra was commissioned for Jörgen van Rijen, who also performs it here. The concerto is actually Aho’s second concertante piece for the trombone – his Symphony No. 9 (1994) included a substantial and very virtuosic solo part for the instrument. In that work, and even more so in the concerto, the composer’s aim has been to extend the expressive and virtuosic possibilities of the trombone. Composed around the same time, the Trumpet Concerto is scored for the wind section of a medium-sized symphony orchestra, plus two saxophones, baritone horn and percussion. It was given its premiere by the same musicians that perform it here, the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra under Martyn Brabbins supporting its principal trumpet Alain De Rudder in what is often a surprisingly jazzy work.

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This is very, very good. We seem to be going through a particularly satisfying period as regards Nielsen symphonies on SACD. First we had Gilbert’s cycle with the New York Philharmonic on Dacapo, and now we have this sterling second installment of Oramo’s, containing the First and Third Symphonies. Both works receive marvelous readings, with world class playing from the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic and interpretations that propel the music forward with all of its muscular energy and lyrical intensity.

The First Symphony is, in this respect, perhaps a more remarkable (but not “better”) performance than the Third. Usually the work gets damned with faint praise: “early Nielsen;” “Brahms praised it;” and the like. Here the music sounds fully mature, the outer movements played with such verve that their tendency towards formal stiffness simply vanishes. The highly developmental third movement that does duty for the scherzo, also sports an unusually wide range of mood, with Oramo’s attention to accent and phrasing paying big dividends. If you have ever had doubts about this symphony, this performance may well erase them.

The “Espansiva” also packs quite a wallop. Its high octane opening gestures enlivens the entire movement, nowhere more so than in the grand waltz at the heart of the development section. The pastoral second movement is magnificent: the string playing has tremendous intensity, and there’s also an unusually bold contribution from the brass when they finally have the opening tune. Soloists Anu Komsi and Karl-Magnus Fredriksson aren’t highlighted unduly. Their wordless vocalize merges with, and emerges from, the surrounding texture with a naturalness that’s memorably poetic. In the last two movements, once again Oramo’s punchy accents and rhythmic drive create powerfully satisfying and idiomatic results.

BIS’ engineers have, as expected, achieved tactile, glowing sonics, placing the orchestra in a warm and open acoustic space and capturing every textural detail with just balances and palpable presence. It’s a good time to be a Nielsen fan.

-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

On the final disc of a complete cycle, Thomas Dausgaard and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra offer Franz Schubert's first two symphonies as well as two fillers, of which one is the rarely heard Funeral March from the unfinished opera Adrast. Both youthful symphonies betray influences of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven; nevertheless, they contain abundant proof of Schubert's burgeoning melodic genius. The previous discs in the cycle have met with critical acclaim and distinctions, with reviewers welcoming the fresh approach towards the undisputed masterpieces and the less familiar works.

Continuing a commitment which began in 1989, BIS has released a number of discs dedicated to the Finnish composer Kalevi Aho. These includes programmes with chamber music, but the majority involve large orchestra, performing large orchestral works. One genre favoured by Aho is that of the concerto, and the recently released recording of his Clarinet Concerto made a great impact on reviewers around the world, who described it as 'intensely lyrical, thematically memorable, and beautifully scored' (ClassicsToday.com), 'a deeply moving master-piece' (Fono Forum), and 'a chef-d'oeuvre of our time!' (Classica-Répertoire). This prolific composer is also one of today's great symphonic writers: his current work list includes no less than fourteen symphonies, and nine of these have been released on BIS, to great acclaim - upon its release in 1999, No.7 was for instance greeted as 'one of our century's great orchestral scores' by the reviewer in American Record Guide. But even within such an extraordinary body of works, Kalevi Aho's 'Symphony No.12, Luosto',holds a very special place. Written for a performance on the slopes of Mount Luosto in Finnish Lapland, it makes use of two orchestras, two vocal soloists and a number of brass players and percussionists placed at various distances from each other and the conductor, surrounding the audience. The primary inspiration for this four-movement work came from the natural surroundings and traditions of Lapland, and parts of it were actually composed during a bitterly cold spell in the solitude of a cottage at the foot of Orresokka, the mountain next to Luosto. The three-dimensional qualities written into the score makes it the perfect subject for a Surround Sound recording, and during the recording sessions in the acclaimed acoustics of the Lahti Sibelius Hall, great pains were taken to recreate the set-up of the first performance. This took place in 2003, in front of - or rather around - an audience of over 2000 people, and became the starting point of 'LuostoClassic', an annual summer music festival which in 2008 features another performance of Aho's symphony. Among the performers on the present recording, the vocal soloists, the Chamber Orchestra of Lapland and the conductor John Storgårds all took part in the première of the work. The uniqueness of the work, in terms of both sonic qualities and conception, would render any additional work meaningless in the context of a single disc, which is why it is published on its own despite the playing time of just under 50 minutes.

1711 saw the publication of what was to become one of the most important musical collections of the first half of the 18th century: Antonio Vivaldi’s L’estro armonico (‘The Harmonic Fancy’). Scored for one, two, or four violin soloists, the twelve concertos in the set fuelled a burgeoning fashion for new Italian music in northern Europe, and were soon being avidly performed and enjoyed in major musical centres, inspiring younger composers including Bach, Handel and Telemann. Vivaldi’s set – represented here by the Concerto in B minor, RV 580 and Violin Concerto in A minor, RV 356 – established a vogue for a virtuosic and brilliant type of writing, with fast movements characterized as much by their propulsive basses as by conventional melodiousness and with central slow movements often exuding a mesmeric, almost ghostly calm. Fourteen years later another collection of concertos – Il cimento dell’armonia e dell’inventione (‘The Contest of Harmony and Invention’) – would secure Vivaldi’s reputation for eternity. The first four concertos of this collection form what has become one of the most widely spread classical compositions in the history of music: Le Quattro Stagioni. Countless violinists have recorded Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, not to mention the many arrangements of the pieces for other instruments. Now Richard Tognetti and the Australian Chamber Orchestra, a team internationally recognized for its virtuosity, energy and individuality, has recorded their take on Vivaldi’s springtime birdsong, summer thunderstorm, autumn hunting and chattering teeth of icy winter. The programme also includes two typically Vivaldian slow movements, a Largo and a Grave, as well as a Sinfonia for strings originally intended as the overture of the opera La verità in cimento (‘Truth in contention’).

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A thoroughly enjoyable conspectus of lute songs and lute solos from Renaissance Europe, mixing familiar and unfamiliar and played by two modern masters of these forms. There’s music here from England, Italy, Germany, France and Poland. Of course the composers concerned were, in many respects, more ‘international’ than ‘national’. Their persons – and their music – crossed many boundaries and many musical exchanges were effected in this period.

Dowland, for example, spent some four years in Paris as a young man, visited and performed (and listened to others perform) at such important musical courts as those of Heinrich Julius, Duke of Brunswick, at Wolfenbüttel, and Moritz, Landgrave of Hesse, at Kassel. He travelled in Italy, with spells in Venice (where he met Giovanni Croce), Padua, Genoa, Ferrara, and Florence. From 1598 to 1606 he was lutenist at the court of Christian IV of Denmark. Or, to take two more examples, Giovanni Kapsberger was born Johann(es) Hieronymus Kapsberger, supposedly born in Venice, son of a German gentleman; the Polish lutenist and composer, Wojchiech (Albertus) D?ugoraj had his music published in France by Jean-Baptiste Brossard and lived most of his mature life outside his native Poland. So, though it makes some sense to talk of national styles in this period, it also makes sense to create an anthology such as this which stresses the internationalism of the prevailing musical idioms.

On this CD, Lindberg plays a restored lute of c.1590, identified as the work of Sixtus Rauwolf, a lute-maker of Augsburg, claimed, quite plausibly, to be the oldest surviving lute in playable condition, still retaining its original soundboard. The instrument’s lovely sound is quite beautifully captured in this recording, both in solo pieces – not least the quite ravishing Fantasia by Gregory Huwet (who was born in Antwerp, worked at Wolfenbüttel and was held in high regard by Dowland) – and as accompaniment to the voice of Emma Kirkby.

Most readers of MusicWeb have presumably long since made up their mind about Kirkby. If, like me, you find her voice, and the intelligence with which she uses it, one of the great joys to be had in hearing this repertoire, then this, you will want to know, is another excellent CD, on which the voice seems yet to have lost very little and the intelligence (or musical experience) is even greater than on her youthful recordings. If you never fell under Kirkby’s musical spell than this is not, I imagine, a recital likely to effect any kind of sudden conversion.

The subtlety of interpretation on offer here is remarkable, but entirely unostentatious. Listen, for example, to Kirkby’s phrasing in Heinrich Schütz’s ‘Eile mich, Gott, zu erreten’ – few singers, in whatever style, can so wonderfully give equal weight to the demands of text and music; or listen to the marvellous interplay between singer and accompanist in Sigismondo d’India’s beautiful ‘Quella vermiglia rosa’; or to Lindberg’s exquisite presentation of three short pieces for lute by Michelangelo Galilei (another ‘international’ figure, born in Italy, who worked in Poland and Bavaria). These are jewels indeed.

The recorded sound is perfect; intimate but not over-close. Full texts and translations are provided.

-- Glyn Pursglove, MusicWeb International

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

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I first heard the fearless Norwegian tuba player Øystein Baadsvik in the Aho concerto (review). I say fearless, for anyone who’s brave enough to play this instrument in a solo capacity deserves a medal of some kind. He’s since recorded several tuba discs for BIS – the Aho piece was subsequently reissued on BIS-SACD-1685 - all of which have found favour on these pages. The master of ceremonies here is the indefatigable Christian Lindberg, who has impressed me a great deal as both trombonist and conductor; in the latter role his recent Stenhammar recording deserves special praise (review).

The Arctic Philharmonic, one of the world’s newest – it was formed in 2009 – also has the distinction of being the most northerly on the planet. It’s not a band I’ve encountered before, but given Lindberg’s work with diverse ensembles – most recently the Royal Flemish Philharmonic – I’d say they are in very capable hands. That’s evident in the three-movement Baadsvik concerto which although not an instant hit grows more delightful with each hearing. Directed with commendable flair and enthusiasm the piece also highlights Baadsvik the soloist’s dexterity and finesse. His secure, nicely nuanced tone us nothing short of remarkable; the essentially songful central movement and its quiet, sustained close are simply gorgeous.

What I find endearing about this concerto is that it never overworks its material or outstays its welcome; that’s more than I can say for the stern, somewhat lugubrious Ness piece, a Baadsvik commission. Curiously the start brings to mind the deathly tread of Mahler’s Abschied; not what Ness intended, I’m sure. The liner-notes rather unhelpfully describe his current style as a blend of ‘post punk and ambient music’. I’m bemused by such statements, especially when they don’t offer an obvious entrée to the music being played. The composer doesn’t help by describing the title thus: ‘Bogey Thresher is a threshing machine for ghosts, i.e. a machine designed to harvest spectres.’ Despite some virtuosic playing from Baadsvik there’s rather more chaff than wheat here.

Lindberg is not at all precocious about Panda in Love, which he explains is nothing more than a juxtaposition of personal experiences and ‘mental images’. I suspect if instruments were animals the tubby tuba might just qualify as an Ailuropoda melanoleuca; indeed, the instrument’s full, ripe lower registers are very much to the fore and this, together with nimble rhythms, whoops and scale-like passages, makes for an inventive and witty display. The recording is equally impressive, although it does benefit from some extra ‘wellie’ — i.e. volume.

Two of the three concertos are well worth hearing; Baadsvik shines throughout.

– Dan Morgan, MusicWeb International

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