Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

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

As a teenager, Franz Liszt created at least two virtuosic concertos for piano and orchestra, scores which now are lost. The three works gathered here first saw the light of day only a few years later, however, during the 1830's when Liszt’s career as a young, travelling virtuoso was at its height. The two numbered concertos, which Liszt revised extensively before letting them be published some 25 years after their conception, frame the single-movement Malédiction for piano and strings which Liszt composed in 1833 and revised in 1840, but which was never published in his lifetime. Stepping into Liszt's shoes for the present recording is Alexandre Kantorow, another very young man. Born in 1997, Alexandre is here supported by his father Jean-Jacques Kantorow conducting the Tapiola Sinfonietta, a team with a number of highly acclaimed recordings to their credit. The recording is Alexandre’s first for BIS, as well as being his début concerto disc, and represents a remarkable achievement by a hugely promising talent, as well as being a vibrant and exciting account of three impassioned scores.

Classical Music

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH Rachel Nicholls, soprano; Robin Blaze, counter-tenor; Gerd Turk,tenor; Peter Kooij, bass; Bach Collegium Japan/Masaaki Suzuki. JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH - CANTATAS, VOLUME 44: Wir mussen durch viel Trubsal in das Reich Gottes eingehen, BWV 146; Siehe, ich willviel Rischer aussenden, BWV 88; Gott fahret auf mit Jauchzen, BWV 43.

Classical Music

Three cantatas from 1729 gathered on the 50th volume of Masaaki Suzuki's traversal of J.S. Bach's cantatas testifies to a huge loss to music - along with another six works, they are all that remain of what was probably an entire year's worth of cantatas, composed by Bach in collaboration with the Leipzig poet Picander (Christian Friedrich Henrici). Some fifty cantatas from this year are unaccounted for, but on the evidence of those that are still extant, it is still possible to see the outlines of the lost cantata year. Fairly concise, the cantatas generally make sparing use of the choir. Instead they centre on two arias, linked by one or two recitatives, and a final chorale. In addition, the surviving works contain several examples of parody - movements in which Bach combined Picander's words with an already existing composition - as well as the reuse of earlier instrumental movements as introductions. A striking example is the opening Sinfonia of BWV 174, where Bach used the first movement of his Third Brandenburg Concerto, adding new parts for three horns and for a tutti section consisting of two violins, viola and three oboes. Another highlight may also be the result of a borrowing - the soprano aria Gottes Engel... from BWV149 is a minuet, complete with the polonaise accents fashionable at the time, and could well have served a secular purpose at another occasion. It is here performed by Hana Blazíková, appearing on this disc alongside three other familiar soloists of the series: Robin Blaze (counter-tenor), Gerd Türk (tenor) and Peter Kooij (bass). With another five discs to go before completing their monumental task, Masaaki Suzuki and his Bach Collegium Japan are in no way flagging, as proven by this splendid instalment, and by recent releases which have received critical acclaim, for instance in International Record Review, where Volume 48 was described as demonstrating 'the ever-rising standard, by now quite stratospheric, of Suzuki and his choir and orchestra in this massive recording project.'

Classical Music

Classical Music

During the period from which these three cantatas come, Bach no longer presented a new cantata of his own every Sunday. Instead he made extensive use of compositions by others, including his own second cousin Johann Ludwig Bach, court composer at Meiningen. In several instances, Bach also reused texts set by Johann Ludwig for his own compositions, including two of the cantatas here, Brich dem Hungrigen dein Brot and Es wartet alles auf dich. Both of these follow a pattern which falls into two parts, with the opening text of each section being taken from the Old and the New Testament respectively. The third cantata, Gelobet sei der Herr, mein Gott, is also unusual in its structure, in that it utilizes five strophes of a single hymn, word for word. The hymn strophes are respectively used for an opening chorus, three arias and a closing chorale, with the first and fifth movement - resplendently scored with trumpets and timpani - utilizing the same hymn melody, although in very different ways. The three arias (for bass, soprano and alto) are more intimate in size, but also highly varied, addressing in turn Christ, the Holy Spirit and the full Trinity. The disc closes with a movement for solo violin and orchestra, thought to be an opening sinfonia for an unknown cantata. It is possibly a late arrangement of an early work, as the highly virtuosic solo part seems to suggest influences from the Italian violin concertos that were making such an impact in Germany during the first decades of the 18th century. With this disc the cantata series of Bach Collegium Japan and Masaaki Suzuki reaches its 45th instalment, to ever-growing acclaim, as exemplified by a recent review regarding Volume 42: 'a recording which shows Suzuki maturing along with Bach ... another fine instalment in this most consistent of series' (International Record Review).

Classical Music

Classical Music