Along with the two books of piano studies by Gyorgy Ligeti, the Etudes of Philip Glass have taken their place as modern classics of the literature, serving both a didactic purpose to train the fingers and minds of their performers, but also bringing their unique soundworlds to new audiences. Glass himself remarked that the first book, compiled from work between 1991 and 2012, had a twin objective, ‘to explore a variety of tempi, textures and piano techniques. At the same time it was meant to serve as a pedagogical tool by which I would improve my piano playing.’ The studies of Book 2 (2012-14) are often bolder in finding new structures and fresh keyboard colours. Each of the 20 Etudes handles a specific piano technique, and the two books are united by the instantly recognisable quirks of Glass’s harmonic language and, as Jeroen van Veen remarks in his booklet note, ‘in almost all the etudes, endurance is the main issue to overcome’. Most recent of the pianist’s many Brilliant Classics recordings of Minimalist music have been albums dedicated to the genre’s godfather, Erik Satie and his successors including Michael Nyman and Max Richter. ‘Van Veen’s beautiful and texturally varied sonority, his long-lined sensibility, and his intense focus draw you in,’ remarked Classics Today of the complete Satie box. ‘Sample the Nocturnes’ sustained, almost otherworldly serenity, or the subtle spacing of notes throughout the Veritables preludes flaques, and you’ll hear how completely and masterfully van Veen conveys his intentions, abetted by superb, full-bodied sonics… His fascinating and riveting pianism is well worth Brilliant Classics’ attractive budget price.’

Vivaldi's Four Seasons is one of the world's most popular and widely recorded collections of music, a set that instantly became an international hit after it was first published at part of the composer's Op.8 in 1725. No doubt it was its imitative directness -- extra musical occurrences/phenomena evoked in an extremely suggestive manner and even written into the score, such as 'the barking dog' or 'the drunkards' sleep' etc. -- that caused such as sensation in its time, effortlessly bridging the gap between the salons of the highborn and the alehouses of the lowly. Today nothing has changed: the concertos are performed both by great violin virtuosos and famous hard rockers; they are works that are constantly being presented in new guises through the re-imagining and re-working of the musical score.

Such is the standpoint adopted on this recording by Erik Bosgraaf, who has chosen here to adapt the violin part for recorder, explaining how 'the violin part can be played on the recorder with surprising ease, without many changes. In some ways it works even better than concertos Vivaldi wrote specifically for the recorder!' Years ago Bosgraaf performed The Four Seasons with a symphony orchestra; for the present album, however, he wanted to approach his ideal as closely as possible using Cordevento, a small baroque ensemble he founded himself, knowing all the musicians through and through. Bosgraaf's aim is to make the four legendary concertos sound as if they had been written for the recorder in the first place -- and the results are laudable, with the contrasts between the wind instrument and the accompanying strings revealing previously unheard stratifications and details. As the soloist himself puts it, 'Listen to Vivaldi with fresh ears and enjoy!'

Other information:
- Recorded 25--28 June 2013, Kruiskerk Burgum, The Netherlands.
- Erik Bosgraaf is considered one of the most innovative and versatile recorder players of his generation. His concerts are happenings, and offer fascinating combinations of classical and experimental music. His importance for the emancipation of the recorder (still often considered a stuffy and even childish instrument) is enormous.
- Bosgraaf's version of Vivaldi's Four Seasons (of course originally for violin and orchestra) is not a mere transcription for another instrument, but a recreation of a work of startling originality and power: listen to the furioso rendering of the Summer Storm!
- Bosgraaf's earlier recordings for Brilliant Classics have met with enthusiastic acclaim in the international press; this new album will strengthen his reputation as one of today's most fascinating out-of-the-box artists.
- Contains detailed notes in English, German and Dutch on the music and matters of interpretation.
- Contains the Four Seasons' sonnets.

This CD presents a fascinating collection of Spanish keyboard works played on the harp, as well as "Intabulations" (settings of songs, madrigals and other vocal works) of the well-known composers working at the Spanish court. Surveying a lesser-known facet of one of the most famous periods in music history, this collection is a must-buy for the Renaissance connoisseur.

Acknowledged as a model and authority by the great German composer Michael Praetorius, Simone Molinaro (1565-1636) is little known today but was known throughout Europe in his own age. He died as master of music at the ducal palace of Genoa, an eminent role he had held for a decade. Born into a musical family, he trained as a church musician and took vows in the early stages of priesthood before begin dismissed in 1616 as Chapel Master of music at the Cathedral in Genoa, having the previous year married into local aristocracy. All the while he continued to play, to teach and to compose on his principal instrument, the theorbo. This book of dances, fantasias and intabulations was published in 1599 and it demonstrates a comprehensive knowledge of the instrument and its repertoire. The rich and challenging chords and fingerings demonstrate Molinaro’s own virtuosity as a performer. There is something quintessentially noble about Molinaro’s work as a composer. Although his idiom is that of the Renaissance, his musical ideas reveal the sort of horizontal, linear development that owes much to Flemish counterpoint. In Ugo Nastrucci’s careful ordering of the volume, moments of strict counterpoint alternate with lighter virtuoso variations in the extended passamezzi which contrast with elegant galliards and sprightly saltarellos. Nastrucci closes the album with what is probably Molinaro’s most famous piece, the Ballo detto il Conte Orlando which was transcribed over a century ago in modern notation by Oscar Chilesotti, and rearranged by Ottorino Respighi in the first suite of his Antiche arie e danze of 1917.

A Lenten oratorio in the Italian tradition of sacred opera, Il Dolore di Maria Vergine is widely held to be the outstanding masterpiece in the genre by Alessandro Scarlatti. Structured in two extended parts, it assigns roles to the Virgin Mary, St John, Nicodemus and to a High Priest named Onìa. The challenge taken on by the composer and his anonymous librettist early in 1717 was to make a mere four characters effective as vehicles for conveying the drama of the Passion, moving as Bach does from the capture of Jesus in Gethsemane, to his interrogation by Pilate, his scourging and crowning with thorns, his journey to Calvary and his crucifixion and death. Recorded in 2001 and first released by Bongiovanni, this recording of Il dolore di Maria Vergine was welcomed by the Italian Musica magazine with a ringing endorsement of its virtues: ‘The orchestra is precise, and in full sympathy with the Scarlatti idiom; outstanding among the instrumental soloists are the trumpet player Gabriele Cassone, the violinist Fabrizio Cipriani and the members of the notably rich continuo section.’

Antonio Caldara's magnificent Missa dolorosa was among his last settings of the mass. First heard on the feast day of the Seven Sorrows of the Virgin Mary, a week before Easter, the piece is characteristic of Caldara's seemingly effortless capacity for counterpoint writing. Written for the Habsburg emperor Charles VI, whose predilection for contrapuntal textures was well known, Caldara manages to weave emotional power into the music, using dramatic harmonies to underline the anguish in the text. Caldara's motets are also based on religious themes, using quotations from the Bible, plus psalms and well known prayers. The ten motets vary considerably in length, with some compact and others expansive; nevertheless, like the mass, they are all characterised by Caldara's expert contrapuntal writing. The English composer John Ravenscroft, who was based in Italy for most of his life, probably never met Caldara; however, their names were entangled when Ravenscroft's music was mistakenly published under Caldara's name in the 20th century. The addition of his dramatic Sonata – also an exercise in first-class fugal writing – is a tribute to an influence in common, as both men were likely pupils of Corelli. This thoughtful and interesting programme comes from the Dutch Ensemble La Silva and its artistic director Nanneke Schaap. Formed in 1984, the ensemble mainly performs Baroque music, including works by Bach, Handel, Frescobaldi and Telemann. They are interested in exploring new ways of performing, particularly pursuing the connections between music and dance. They have previously performed Buxtehude's Membra Jesu Nostri in collaboration with a modern dance ensemble, with the singers singing from memory and moving alongside the dancers.

Quartetto Klimt is one of the most interesting chamber music groups in Italy today, regularly performing in prestigious concert seasons and festivals, both in their home country and abroad, and supported by such prestigious artists as Carlo Maria Giulini, Natalia Gutman and Maurizio Pollini. They make their Brilliant Classics debut with this recording, having previously recorded Dvo?ák’s two quartets for piano and strings for the Amadeus magazine.

This release couples two of Schumann’s substantial chamber music works: the mature E flat Piano Quartet Op. 47 and the youthful C minor Piano Quartet. Schumann’s E flat Piano Quartet is a masterwork in its genre, on a par with those by Mozart and (later) Brahms. The C minor brother is an outpouring of youthful passion on a grand scale, compensating its lack of structural solidity by ardent impetuosity and boundless energy. Excellent performance by the Quartetto Klimt, 4 young Italians sharing their passion for this still slightly neglected chamber music. Recorded in 2009. The booklet contains liner notes and artist biographies. - Brilliant Classics

This third installment of Bach's complete organ works presents a fine and balanced selection of the intimate and the magnificent: Chorale preludes alternate with some of the most glorious and substantial organ works ever written: Toccata & Fugue in D minor, Pièce d'orgue BWV572 and the Toccata, Adagio & Fugue in C major. For this recording organist Stefano Molardi chose a superb historical instrument, the Zacharias Hildebrandt organ (1728), in the St. Jacobikirche, Sängerhausen, Germany. Bach knew Hildebrandt well, and Molardi's performance on this organ gives a particular "authentic" thrill to this recording. Stefano Molardi is unquestionably one of Italy's foremost organists, scholar and conductors. His playing however is far from academic: lively phrased, with brisk tempi and articulations he shares the joy, wonderment and love for these eternal masterpieces!

This release includes three world premier recordings of spiritual cantatas based on biblical texts or scenes by composer Rene de Bousset. The title of the CD refers to the drowning of Pharaoh and his army in pursuit of the people of Moses, de Bousset vividly and brilliantly painting these dramatic events.

20th-century composer Ernest Bloch forged a unique path, firmly establishing his Jewish identity through his music and thereby creating many works of great spiritual expression. Born in Geneva in 1880, he studied in Belgium and Germany before moving to America. Although he returned to Europe, he eventually became a US citizen, abandoning Switzerland forever due to the encroaching threat of Nazism. It was in the States that his music was truly appreciated for the first time; in New York, he conducted renowned orchestral concerts of his own works and became known as the “Jewish Composer”, winning the Coolidge Prize for his Viola Suite. It was around this time that he began to compose for the violin.

Spanning the 1920s, most of the works on this release came to fruition soon after the composer began to compose for the violin on a solo level. Bloch was a composer who harnessed many of the musical tendencies of the time to create highly original works, never tying himself to a particular style, and the authenticity and invention for which he is remembered permeates the entire compilation – starting with Violin Sonata No.1 (1920), a work deeply rooted in tonality and requiring great technical skill. Suite No.1, written nearly 40 years later, brings the neo-Classical aspect of Bloch’s music to the fore through its use of partita form. The Jewish influence is of course also strong: the famous and exotic Baal Shem which narrates three aspects of Chassidic life is included, together with Abodah – or ‘God’s Worship’ – dedicated to the world-famous violinist Yehudi Menuhin, who described the composer as “one of the Seven Wonders […] cast by the gods in a superhuman mould.”

Ernest Bloch (1880-1959) was trained as a violinist, taking lessons from the great Eugene Ysaye in Brussels. Under the threat of the Nazi regime he took refuge to the USA, where he stayed the rest of his life. Here he became famous , one of the first “classical” composers to integrate Jewish elements in his music. His works on religious themes express the sorrows and joys of the Jewish people over the centuries.

This release presents the works for violin and piano, the substantial and romantic 1rst violin sonata, the neo-classical Suite and the famous Baal Shem (scenes from Chassidic Life) and the “Abodah” (God’s Worship), dedicated to Yehudi Menuhin.

Casella was, if it isn’t a contradiction in terms, a kind of neoclassical Romantic; of sufficient pianistic skill that he was admitted to the Paris Conservatoire at the age of 13 and thus perhaps escaped from the pressure to plough the furrow of operatic verismo already so well tilled by his countrymen. Instead he made his mark as a composer of abstract, instrumental music such as these two cello sonatas.

The First Sonata, like his other youthful compositions, reveals various stylistic influences: there are hints of Debussy, Mahler and Strauss, as well as traces of what Casella had learnt from Fauré. Even in these early works, however, the composer’s own personality comes across clearly in the search for what was new and hitherto unexplored ground. The Second Sonata reveals a change in compositional approach. In fact, it bears witness to his interest in a style that he defined as ‘baroque in its monumentality’. With its four movements it is more extensive, with dynamics based on deep contrasts between passages that are passionate and vigorous, and others in which the atmosphere is quietly intimate. The same rhythmic energy returns in the Tarantella, composed in 1929 along with the Notturno for violin and piano, transcribed by Luigi Silva in 1931, and ultimately reworked by Casella for cello and orchestra in 1934.

Andrea Favalessa and Maria Semeraro are young Italian musicians who regularly play together in a fruitful artistic partnership that has won them international recognition and numerous awards.

Other information:
- Recorded in 2013.
- The music of Alfredo Casella is experiencing a true revival: labels like Chandos and Naxos issue his large scale orchestral works to great critical and public acclaim, and this new recording presents his wonderful works for cello and piano.
- Casella’s musical language is often called “Neoclassical”: clear structures, open and strong melodic lines, vibrant and sharply edged rhythms, music of great vitality and power.
- The cello sonatas receive a passionate and convincing performance by two young Italians, Andrea Favalessa and Maria Semeraro, a duo already for many years, having won several international prizes at chamber music competitions.
- Booklet includes notes on the music by Maria Semeraro.

A most beguiling release crowning the Britten centenary. Les Illuminations and the Serenade for tenor, horns and strings are two of Britten's most enduringly popular works. Tenor Peter Schrier, heard here at the height of his powers, with Herbert Kegel conducting the Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra. Reissue of performances dating from 1967 recordings done in the then DDR (German Democratic Republic). Booklet includes both liner notes and the sung texts.

J.S. Bach: Complete Organ Music, Vol. 1, Composer Johann Sebastian Bach, Artist Stefano Molardi organ, Format 4 CD, Stefano Molardi is shaping his recorded survey of Bach's complete organ music as self-sufficient and musically satisfying recitals which, disc by disc, explore the diverse styles at the composer's disposal, the flexible usage to which he, the ultimate 'compleat musician', puts 'his' instrument through it's paces, and the different liturgical demands which he was required to meet during the course of his career as he moved from church to court and back again. Grand Weimar- and Leipzig-composed preludes and fugues rub shoulders with intricate trio sonatas which he had initially conceived as chamber music, and between them nestle intimate chorales from his Cöthen days. Accordingly, Molardi makes full use of the potential flexibility of his chosen Trost organ in the Stadtkirche 'Zur Gotteshilfe' in Waltershausen, deep in the provincial heart of Thuringia. This is Bach country, and although the organ has been periodically restored since it was finally inaugurated in 1755, almost 30 years after the work was begun, it retains the classic characteristics of it's age and situation: a thorough restoration in 1998 returned the instrument to it's original glory. Born in Cremona, Molardi has undertaken a Renaissance career as not only organist but harpsichordist, conductor and scholar, not only at home in the rarified confines of early music but a virtuoso who has performed the complete organ works of Liszt and Franck and made an extraordinary recording of Verdi arranged for organ. These Bach discs are, perhaps appropriately, less overtly spectacular but no less imaginative in their rhythmic and coloristic response. A new recording (2013) of Bach's complete organ works is, even in these overfed and crisis-stricken days, an event of the first order. First of all because the music is of such overwhelming beauty and power, one of the greatest creations of humanity, and secondly because there is still so much to discover and illuminate in these works. These recordings are based on the choice of instruments: organist Stefano Molardi chose German instruments from Bach's time, lending an authentic character to the project. This first set features the wonderful Trost Organ of the Stadtkirche Zur Gotteshilfe in Waltershausen, Thuringia, built in 1725 and gloriously restored in 1998. Stefano Molardi is a "renaissance man", organist, harpsichordist, scholar, historian and writer. He recorded extensively for Divox, DGG and other labels. His playing is clear, crisp, free and rhythmically vibrant. The CD's are programmed like concerto programs, a fine diversity of genres and styles, to avoid monotony and uniformity.

Alessandro Scarlatti: Alto Cantatas / Martellacci, Sasso / Composer: Alessandro Scarlatti / Conductor: Giorgio Sasso / Orchestra/Ensemble: Insieme Strumentale di Roma / Number of Discs: 1 / Length: 1 Hours 7 Mins. The author of around 800 cantatas, Alessandro Scarlatti was the most prolific composer of this particular chamber genre during the Baroque period. In this engaging release we are introduced to two examples, both 'with instruments' and written for solo contralto, the voice type to which the Sicilian dedicated a mere 10 per cent of his cantata output. Perchè tacete, regolati concenti is the first, a work that corresponds to the typically 17th-century themes of unrequited or unhappy love, with both the character and the music expressing the feeling of grief that underpins the text. The prose is actually quite weak in comparison to the quality of the music, and it may be that Scarlatti wrote it himself: he was, after all, described in the wording of his admission to the Arcadia as a ‘professor or poetry’. It is in any case an early composition; the second cantata, Filen, mio caro bene, we know was written later, on account of its style as well as Arcadian subject matter (which by then was in vogue: the work is set in a natural context). Complementing these works are a couple of concertos and sonatas by the composer, each set in a minor key. An all-Italian cast are at hand to perform the program, with alto Gabriella Martellacci – who has appeared as a guest performer with such prestigious orchestras as the Royal Concertgebouw and Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia – taking the lead in the cantatas. Recorded: October 2012, Basilica dei Santi Bonifacio e Alessio, Rome, Italy. For a long time, Alessandro Scarlatti merely was “the father of” the more celebrated Domenico Scarlatti (the composer of 555 keyboard sonatas), but in recent years his genius as composer of an immense vocal oeuvre is widely recognized. Alessandro wrote some 800 cantatas for solo voice and instrumental ensemble, dramatic works on secular texts, dealing mainly with unrequited love, and the resulting grief and melancholy, exquisitely expressed in beautiful cantabile lines. The two Cantatas on this new recording (which also contains concertos and an instrumental sonata) are sung by the famous Italian alto Gabriella Martellacci, a household name in the Early Music scene, a regular guest with ensembles like Concerto Italiano (Rinaldo Alessandrini) and Modo Antiquo (Federico Maria Sardelli).

Domenico Scarlatti, the sixth child of the celebrated composer Alessandro Scarlatti, was a prolific keyboard composer, and is best known today for his 555 sonatas for keyboard. Domenico was employed by various members of European royalty and nobility in Italy, Spain and Portugal throughout his career. His style was unusual and innovative, but very few of his works were published during his lifetime.

The disc combines several of Scarlatti’s keyboard sonatas with Neapolitan songs by various composers of the era, exploring the influences of these songs on Scarlatti’s sonatas. Scarlatti’s style is notable for its improvisatory nature as well as its incorporation of elements of Spanish and Portuguese folk music (the composer having spent time in Lisbon, Seville and Madrid), and among the Neapolitan songs featured on the disc is the immensely popular Lo guarracino, a fast?talking and high?spirited number that narrates the story of a fish, and the lilting La Nova Gelosia. Two extracts from operas – ‘So’ li sorbe e le nespole amare’ from Leonardo Vinci’s Lo cecato fauzo and ‘Chi disse ca la femmena’ from Giovanni Battista Pergolesi’s Lo frate ‘nnamorato – are also present, both of which feature a light?hearted portrayal of women. Out of the many versions of the song Quanno nascette ninno, the one by the Nuova Compagnia di Canto Popolare was chosen for this disc, thanks to its fascinating minor modulation.

Acclaimed harpsichordist Francesco Cera is considered one of Italy’s foremost interpreters of early music. He has toured all over the world and his recordings include interpretations of 17th?century keyboard sonatas, French suites and harpsichord concertos by J.S. Bach. Italian soprano Letizia Calandro’s repertoire includes Neapolitan songs alongside the more traditional oeuvres of the Classical and Baroque periods. Having studied at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome, she won the Spoleto Award and has performed the lead role in operas by composers as diverse as Monteverdi, Mozart and Verdi.

OTHER INFORMATION:
* New recording, recorded September 2009, Chisea di S. Anatolia, Colle di Tora, Rieti, Italy.
* Extensive liner notes included in English and Italian.
* Sung texts available on the Brilliant Classics website.

Christoph Willibald Gluck is one of the great reformers of opera, departing from the tried and tested genres of opera seria in the 18th century: Metastasio's drama per musica and Rameau's tragédie lyrique. Gluck sought to restore dramatic truth to musical theatre, dispensing with long, virtuosic arias simply written to play to performers' vanity, and providing a greater musical and dramatic coherence to his operas. His focus on clarity, simplicity and the return to nature is perfectly exemplified in his great work, Orfeo ed Euridice, the first of his 'reform' operas. The work owes much to the style of French opera, with its accompanied recitative and simple vocal lines.

This historic recording from 1966 features a young Grace Bumbry, who was recognised at the Kennedy Centre Honours in 2009 as a defining figure in American arts and culture. Also featuring internationally renowned conductor Václav Neumann, the recording is an acclaimed interpretation of one of Gluck's best-loved works.

Other information:
- Includes plot synopsis and liner notes on the composer and work.
- Libretto available on www.brilliantclassics.com.

John Johnson and Antony Holborne share much in common, in their music and in their careers, but this album, in setting their work side by side, reveals their individual style and approach to the instrument. It is assumed that they both were born in the 1540s, without authoritative record, but their work in the royal court of the 1560s is attested. Johnson made his career as an accomplished performer, while Holborne’s energies were focused on writing for the instrument. In the case of Johnson, the pavans, galliards and grounds recorded by Yavor Genov incorporate an amalgam of native and foreign (especially Italian) elements. His works show the English taste for cross-relations, surprising harmonic and tonal relationships and, above all, variation. However, like Holborne, he developed the form of the pavan during the course of his career, endowing it with increasing richness of ornamentation and expression, to be enjoyed in full in the melancholy undertow of the Passingmeasures Pavan. Holborne’s lute music is still more painstakingly elaborate, designed perhaps less for public show than private reflection, to give as much pleasure to the musician as to his courtly audience. With two albums on Brilliant, of music by Kapsberger and Zamboni, the young Bulgarian lutenist has introduced himself to international audiences and proved to be a thoroughly sympathetic interpreter of this idiom which trades on subtle intimacies of phrase, decoration and inflection.

C.P.E. Bach’s keyboard concertos enjoy several fine performances on piano, but finding really top-notch interpretations on harpsichord until recently has proven elusive. For years he was best represented by Gustav Leonhardt’s version of the D minor concerto Wq 23, but this newcomer adds three more works to the still meager C.P.E. Bach concerto discography. Let’s start with the “orchestra”. I use the quotation marks because Musica Amphion consists of single strings–so, five players. They sound marvelous: big and bold in the tuttis, tellingly intimate and expressive in lyrical passages. Here is compelling evidence that string players on period instruments need not sacrifice all timbral beauty in pursuit of “authenticity”.

Pieter-Jan Belder has recorded lots of Bach before, including a fine set of C.P.E.’s Kenner und Liebhaber works. He’s a brilliant player with ample virtuoso chops for these technically demanding concertos. All three were composed in the 1730s and ’40s; that is, while J.S. Bach was very much alive and active, but they couldn’t sound more different. It’s a remarkable tribute to Emanuel’s independent voice that he was composing such characterful music at this early date; but then, consider who his teacher was and what an example he had to follow, even if his own personal style was quite different.

C.P.E. Bach is best known for his wild, passionate music in minor keys, and we have an excellent example of this in the G minor concerto Wq 6. Listen to the theme of its finale for a remarkable instance of something that still strikes us as uniquely intense and expressively powerful. However, Bach was just as interesting writing happy music in major keys. The finale of the E major concerto, one of only nine published in his lifetime–six of which belong to Wq 43–contains one of his catchiest tunes. However, like the early Concerto in G major Wq 3, the music is just as energetic, just as surprising, and just as compelling. This is just great stuff, and you owe it to yourself to savor these pieces.

-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

Debussy wrote songs throughout his career, beginning at the age of 18 with Nuit d’étoiles, with which this collection also begins. Most of his vocal output was inspired by the singers he encountered as a young man in the fashionable salons of fin-de-siecle Paris, and in particular the soprano Blanche Vasnier: from that time, Debussy’s songs resembled an amorous diary of dreams and desires of infinite sweetness, entrusted to a voice capable of the utmost seduction. The epilogue to his love story with Vasnier is heard in Apparition, after which Lorna Windsor moves to the years of Debussy in Rome, and in particular his sumptuous settings of Baudelaire. There follow the much more elusive settings of Verlaine and Rimbaud, dating from his ‘impressionist’ and even ‘post-impressionist’ late years, and often inspired by his encounter with the soprano Mary Garden, the first Mélisande. Lorna Windsor has established a reputation as a specialist in contemporary music: her catalogue on Brilliant Classics includes the songs with piano by John Cage (8850) and a more recent, wide-ranging album of solo-vocal music by Feldman, Kagel, Kurtág and others. She also has considerable experience in French repertoire, having studied with the doyen of French baritones, Gérard Souzay, and given performances in France of Offenbach and Satie, as well as recording the songs of Satie. A further point of interest to the album concerns the piano used by Antonio Ballista: a 1923 Pleyel. Ballista himself was born just 13 years after the piano was made, and for more than half a century he formed half of one of the best-known and most recorded piano duos of their time, in partnership with fellow Italian Bruno Canino. Though he has accompanied many eminent singers such as Cathy Berberian, Anna Caterina Antonacci and Kim Criswell, his work with singers has been very rarely represented on record, making this album a collector’s item in Ballista’s distinguished career as well as a ravishingly idiomatic record of French song.

A delightful collection of English songs from the 17th century, constructed around the major influence of the four seasons, and showcasing the great enthusiasm for music, particularly amateur music making, that took place during this era.

During the Commonwealth of England (c.1640–1660), music disappeared almost entirely from religious and court occasions. The use of instruments and music in churches was banned, and organs were destroyed by order of the regime – so the public turned to village and tavern musicians, country dances and new musical clubs for music making. Coinciding with the decline of the Elizabethan madrigal, folk music and settings of the famous poets of the day were popular; similarly, keyboard variations on dance tunes and romantic songs for voice and lute were all the rage, and this continued into the years of the Restoration under Charles II. The monarch’s influence can be detected in the French style of some of the later works, featuring oboe and large groups of strings.

This outpouring of inspired music is captured perfectly in this new collection, performed with insight and sensitivity by Ensemble Le Tendre Amour. Composers featured include Purcell, Playford, Morley, Croft, Lawes, Byrd, Eccles, Ravenscroft and, of course, many anonymous works. From bucolic country music to sophisticated pieces for a gentrified city audience, the music provides a vivid soundtrack to life in the turbulent world of 17th century England.

OTHER INFORMATION:
• Recording made in June 2011.
• Includes extensive booklet notes and complete sung texts.

REVIEWS:

"What an enchanting promenade through a musical garden – full of colour – a splendid sound - lively and high-spirited dances, not to mention the tender rendition of gentle love songs. Also truly splendid were the seven soloists of the ensemble, especially heard were: Sébastien Perrin (traverso), Adriana Alcaide (violin), and Nina Akerblom Nielsen (soprano). The result: an enchanting excursion to a baroque garden, glorious!" - Niederösterreichisches Nachrichten, St. Pölten, Austria.

"Closing the 10th Samobor music festival this year was a performance by early music ensemble Le Tendre Amour from Barcelona with the program “All in a Garden Green,” which caused great audience approval in the Samobor Franciscan church. Various combinations of instrumentation, a creative selection of repertoire, refined performance, and passionately dedicated members of this specialized ensemble, opened a rich array of emotional and spiritual nuances of beautiful music to the listener. The ensemble was as rich and inexhaustible as the interesting artistic periods themselves." - Radio Samobor, Croatia.

There is little doubt that Vienna at the turn of the 19th century was the musical capital of the world; a nexus for the string quartet composer, who could alternate composing for the leading virtuosos of the day with creating works that satisfied the then-increasing predilection for domestic music-making. Against this background, striving to find his own voice and using the medium as a path towards his early symphonies, was the young, prodigiously talented Franz Schubert. Similar to Beethoven, Schubert stood out in his refusal to target the general public with his writing, though there is much evidence to suggest that the majority of his early string quartets were written for and first performed by his family's own ensemble.

This recording brings together three such works written during Schubert's teenage years, beginning with the Overture in B B470 -- seemingly the only one of its kind for string quartet by the composer, and in which traits such as unison playing and fanfares reveal the focus of his orchestral experimentations at that time. Recorded for the first time using a playable version that was made from the original orchestral score, the work is followed by D112, also a work of different origin (originally a string trio). Schubert is still searching for the right response to the quartets of the Viennese masters here, though the finale's lower-voice writing and virtuosic interjections of the first violin do reveal an increasingly original conception of the quartet sound. More compact and less experimental is D353 -- something that is perhaps due to Schubert's contemporaneous studies with the Italian composer Antonio Salieri.

Continuing their complete survey of Schubert's string quartet output with this recording is the Diogenes Quartet, whose first offering (94315) was released to critical acclaim. The Munich-based group is considered one of the most successful string quartets of the younger generation; "Glorious string tone and impeccable ensemble are trademarks of this first-rate quartet" (MusicWeb International, June 2012). 

Other information:

- Recorded on 3--5 December 2012, Himmelfahrtskirche, München-Sendling.
- The second instalment of the recording of Schubert's complete string quartets by the German Diogenes Quartet presents two early, but by no means immature quartets: the B flat D112 and the E major D353, 'Hausmusik' for domestic use, written by a composer whose genius lent a ray of eternity to every note he wrote.
- A world premiere for the Overture D470, and orchestral piece in Italian style, arranged for string quartet by Schubert himself, and completed for this recording by musicologist Christian Starke.
- Contains notes on the music and a biography of the quartets.

Spanning 6 CDs and featuring many a consummate performance, this release celebrates the genius of Schubert through detailing all of his late chamber music. The compilation begins with the two piano trios, works of immense virtuosity whose fluent melodies betray the composer's affinity for song. Moving on to the quartets, we encounter expressive depth, melancholy and drama; while the Quartettsatz movement in C minor displays all the hallmarks of Schubert's late style - including dark lyricism and shifting chromaticism - D810 'Der Tod und das Mädchen' takes the idea of tragedy to a whole new level, it's second movement's melody lifted directly from the identically titled song. The String Quintet follows, a work written just two months before Schubert's death and which replaces the conventional second viola part with that of a cello. Last, but by no means least, the Octet; composed in 1826, this piece was conceived in a response to a commission by the renowned clarinetist Ferdinand Troyer. Recorded 1995-2009. In his last years (though he was only in his late twenties...) Schubert achieved a unique musical form in which structure and content fuse into an inseparable unity. His later works present a soul in anguish, darkness and light alternate, terror and happiness go hand in hand. The three late string quartets (counting among the best and most famous quartets ever written), the two piano trios, the string quintet of heavenly proportions and the octet all reveal grand musical structures, laden with a depth of feeling which belies the comparative youth of the composer. Excellent performances from the Klaviertrio Amsterdam (Spanish classical magazine Scherzo: "The best recording available"), the German Brandis Quartet and the famous Berlin Philharmonic Octet.

This new release presents an absorbing portrait of Abel Carlevaro (1916-2001) through his music as performed by Cristiano Poli Cappelli, an Italian guitarist making his second album for Brilliant Classics. The first was of guitar music by another relatively forgotten figure, Alexander Tansman, and it was enthusiastically reviewed by Classical Guitar magazine: ‘Highly recommended!’ Like Tansman, Carlevaro studied with Andres Segovia, the father of the modern guitar, during the 1930s. However, he broke away from his master’s teachings in order to make his own experiments in both guitar manufacture and composition. His music caught the ear of Heitor Villa-Lobos, another South American innovator, and it embraces the widest stylistic range captured by Poli Cappelli on this album, from the delicate watercolours of the Preludios Americanos (1969-74) to the vivid brushstrokes and abstract form of Cronomias (1972). Carlevaro’s later music returned often to the milonga, a tango-related dance popularised in the classical sphere by Astor Piazzolla. Milonga para Ling (1999) is brief but saturated with melancholy, while to the Milonga Oriental (1994) belongs one of the composer’s happiest melodic inspirations. Later still, a pair of milonga suites describe a peaceful return to the composer’s heritage. An essential acquisition for guitar aficionados, but also a collection of beautiful South American melodies that deserve to travel more widely.

Bernando Pasquini was a musician of considerable reputation in 17th-century Rome. Having held various organist posts throughout the city, he struck gold in 1666 when he was made organist and director of music to Prince Gianbattista Borghese. In 1706 he, along with his contemporaries and fellow musicians, Arcangelo Corelli and Alessandro Scarlatti, was made a member of the Arcadia, a movement begun by Queen Christine of Sweden.

Keyboard music in Italy in the 1600s was to undergo a radical change, with an introduction to Rationalism and simplicity; Pasquini himself is known to have been particularly enamoured with the works of Palestrina and Frescobaldi. Aside from his skills as a performer and composer, Pasquini was also an immensely gifted teacher. Each of the sonatas for two basso continuo instruments bears the hallmarks of the partimento teaching technique, which involves a kind of dialogue between teacher and student. The sonatas include the fashionable styles of keyboard music of the time, such as the Allegro da concerto, Adagio, Fugue, Corrente and Gavotte.

The recording boasts two multi-award-winning organists. The first, Luca Scandali, was educated at the Conservatory 'G. Rossini' of Pesaro in his native Italy and has performed in festivals all over Europe. He is currently Professor of Organ and Composition for Organ at the Conservatory 'F. Morlacchi' of Perugia. The second, Swiss organist, Hadrien Jourdan, studied at the Conservatory of Geneva and regularly participates in festivals and recordings throughout Europe.

Other information:
- Recorded in 2012.
- Bernardo Pasquini (1637-1710) was an Italian composer of opera and church music. A renowned virtuoso keyboard player in his day, he was one of the most important Italian composers for harpsichord and organ between Frescobaldi and Scarlatti.
- Pasquini's sonatas for two organs offer delightful dialogues between the two instruments (sometimes acting as teacher and pupil) in fashionable forms such as Allegro da Concerto and various dance forms.
- Two excellent organists enjoy their interplay on two historical organs from the 18th century.
- Organs: Pietro Nacchini, 1757; Gaetano Callido, 1785.
- Harpsichord: copy after Ignazio Mucciardi, 1789, by Giulio Fratini & Pierpaolo Pallotti, 2012.
- Contains liner notes on the works and biographies of the artists.

This new release will transport the listener into the court of King Charles II. Known as the “Merry Monarch,” King Charles II restored his court’s cultural life with his ensemble of violin, viola da gamba, theorbo, and harp, which was gathered with the intent of entertaining the king.; Only the Harp Consorts by William Lawes are the remaining compositions for this instrumental combination. This program, based around the Consorts, also includes works by Byrd, Simpson, Playford, Dowland, and Locke.; This is the CD debut of Il Caleidoscopio Ensemble, who perform on these period instruments.