Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767) composed two sets of “Seven times seven plus one Menuet’, resulting in the total of a hundred Menuets. It is not certain what Telemann meant with this numerical title, most likely the biblical holy number 7 plays an important part in it. Telemann’s menuets are well-crafted miniatures of sixteen to forty measures; those of the second collection are generally briefer than those of the first. In both collections, the keys are arranged alphabetically. With few exceptions, the dances are unvarying in their two-reprise structure and four-measure phrasing. Andrea Coen is an organist, harpsichordist, and fortepianist, who has studied with such distinguished artists as Ton Koopman and Alan Curtis, and has collaborated with such figures as Christopher Hogwood and Monica Huggett. His recordings of Baroque and early-Classical keyboard repertoire for Brilliant Classics have attracted glowing reviews. Coen recorded the “Kleine Kammermusik” and made the first complete recording of Telemann’s Fantasias (94228). According to MusicWeb International: ‘Coen, an experienced, insightful instrumentalist with a profound knowledge of historical performance practice and a sackfull of important recordings under his belt, could make Telemann sound special even on a typewriter.’ Andrea Coen about these 100 Menuets: “The most exciting thing, in this journey of a hundred stages, was to find in each individual minuet a unique and unrepeatable sense of originality: a hundred miniatures that compose a kaleidoscope as rich and coherent as was ever heard”.

Amazing to think in these days of plenty, when Vivaldi's sun has surely never shone brighter, that there can still be examples of his 660 or so concertos which have yet to be heard on record, but this invaluable set contains one such work, the G minor concerto RV459, as well as all the other works which the Venetian composer originally wrote for an instrument for which he evidently conceived a great affection, well suited as it is to the virtuoso roulades and trills which distinguish his writing for his own instrument, the violin, as well as testing the soloist with great demands on breath control in the fast outer movements and lyrical intensity in the central slow ones. It is more than likely that Vivaldi’s earliest concertos for wind instruments were those he composed for the oboe. The documents at the Ospedale della Pietà, where Vivaldi was a long-serving teacher and maestro della musica, reveal a specific interest on his part for the instrument.

A note on the world premiere: the extant manuscript of RV459 contains only the first two movements, and reveals so many errors and omissions that the score itself is practically useless from a performance point of view. Nevertheless, the piece is unquestionably somewhat weak, and evidently spurious, to the extent that it has been included in a ‘complete works’ recording solely on account of the fact that it constitutes an added degree of documentation.

All the critical editions used for this new complete recording were made by Pier Luigi Fabretti, soloist on this new recording, on the basis of meticulous comparisons with period manuscripts, printed scores and parts.

Other information:
– The first complete recording of the oboe concertos by Vivaldi on period instruments!
– The performances of soloist Pierluigi Fabretti (principal oboist of Les Arts Florissants) and L’Arte dell’Arco, led by Federico Guglielmo brim with energy, furioso in the allegros, dolce in the andantes.
– Several works receive their first recording on original instruments. – Booklet notes by Pier Luigi Fabretti & Federico Guglielmo.

This remarkable collection of music for solo piano takes one short-form piece (ranging in length from just under half a minute to just over five) by each of 50 composers, forming a cross-section of piano music spanning the centuries from Rameau, born in 1683, to Alessandro Lucchetti, born in 1958. That a listener can make this astounding journey through piano music from the Baroque to the Contemporary in the space of two compact discs is truly a “shortcut” through the ages – but it misses nothing along the way. The programme is jam-packed with detail and character in its compact space. Ballista demonstrates how each composer is able to thoroughly express his style in a handful of bars, even if it means he must be incredibly versatile as a performer, continually adapting and readapting himself to the new territory of each musical microcosm. As he rightly points out, the brevity of these pieces means they are seldom programmed in recitals, such that even well-known composers are represented here by music that is likely to be a revelation to the listener. Guiding us through the twists and turns of this miniature labyrinth, Ballista offers a nine-word epigram to introduce each piece, compact as a haiku, they are often amusing, yet invariably thought-provoking.

REVIEW:

This is one weird set. The concept at first may appear strange, but the execution is creative. Italian pianist Ballista has mostly selected from the least known of each composer’s works and includes a wide variety of contemporary avant-garde from such experimental figures as La Monte Young, Morton Feldman, Paolo Castaldi, Gyorgy Ligeti, John Cage, Luciano Berio, and George Crumb. Some take mere seconds, others a maximum of just over four minutes (Debussy’s `D’un cahier d’esquisses’). Choices for more mainstream composers are often obscure, but no less alluring for that. With such great variety Ballista proves himself a worthy interpreter, and the sound varies from decent to good. To entice us even further, Ballista includes an often humorous one-sentence descriptor for each piece. Score a smile and a thumbs up to Brilliant for daring to be different on this one.

– American Record Guide (Alan Becker)

Bringing together all seven of Schubert's completed symphonies, as well as the much-loved B minor 'Unfinished', this set charts the development of Schubert's voice as a symphonist. His first six symphonies were composed between 1813 and 1818 for the orchestra at the religious school that he attended in Vienna. Although they could be considered to be apprentice works, and are clearly influenced by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and -- in the case of the Sixth Symphony -- Rossini, they are remarkable achievements for such a young composer, and the listener can hear some of the hallmarks of Schubert's more forward-looking, romantic style, such as a bolder and richer harmonic language, beginning to emerge.

After a serious illness in 1822, from which he only partially recovered, Schubert composed his final symphonic masterpieces, the 'Unfinished' (1822) and the 'Great' (1825--6). From the haunting slow introduction and the extraordinary sense of pathos of the 'Unfinished' to the joyful and rhythmically vital 'Great' symphony, both works showcase Schubert the symphonist at the peak of his powers and are some of the most popular and enduring pieces in the orchestral canon.

Schubert's complete symphonies are performed here by the legendary Staatskapelle Dresden under the inspired direction of celebrated conductor Herbert Blomstedt, praised by Gramophone for his 'incomparably refined sensitivity and canny interpretative prowess'.

Other information:
- Recordings made between 1978 and 1981 at the Lukaskirche in Dresden. - "Probably the finest, most consistent Schubert cycles available" (David Hurwitz, Classicstoday.com, performance: 10).
- A superb recording of Schubert's symphonies by the Staatskapelle Dresden, in full golden glory, conducted by Herbert Blomstedt, one of the most respected and revered conductors alive.
- A gem from the Berlin Classics catalogue, recorded between 1978 and 1981 in the famous acoustics of the Lukaskirche in Dresden, now available on Brilliant Classics!
- Contains booklet notes on the symphonies.

Including 7 discs, this exhaustive set contains the complete string quartets by Franz Schubert, including two unfinished movements which have been completed for this release by Christian Starke.; Schubert composed his string quartets throughout his entire life. His earlier pieces radiate the classical Viennese style, where as the later quartets are much more dramatic, romantic, and full of Weltschmerz.; Performing these works is The German Diogenes Quartet. The ensemble has been exploring Schubert’s quartets more deeply for the last few years. Producer Christian Starke has provided outstanding liner notes for this release.

REVIEW:

A truly complete collection, including works overlooked in other 'complete' recordings, this lacks nothing in insight or care, revealing the range and genius of Schubert in this medium, beyond the most famous works. A triumph, and a bargain at this price.

-- MusicWeb International

Read full review from earlier release of this complete set of the Shostakovich Complete String Quartets below.

When it comes to this music, how the quartet plays technically is just as important as what it does interpretively, and I very much like the way that the Rubio Quartet plays. Unlike so many groups in this music, they never hack or slash their way through the more violent moments, always maintaining excellent balances, smooth legato, and a warm tone. Combine this with lively tempos throughout, and the result achieves all of the necessary intensity without ugliness or distortion, realizing the composer’s intentions far more effectively than many a more rough and edgy approach. The result may well appeal to Shostakovich fans who respect rather than love these pieces (and I know that there are many), finding concentrated listening to four strings perpetually in extremis something of an ordeal (at least as compared to the symphonies, with their wider range of contrasts).

This emphasis on the classical virtues of fine chamber music playing means that those famous “crazy” moments, such as the second movement of the Eighth Quartet, erupt naturally and sound well-placed in their context with no loss of excitement, while the gentler passages in the First and Seventh Quartets, or the opening of the Fourth, are notably lovely and full of feeling. In the late quartets (Nos. 12-15) the Rubio’s emphasis on lyricism goes far toward making the music’s bleakness and dark emotional demeanor more palatable (and consequently more expressively direct) than many less ingratiating interpretations. Very natural recorded sound, happily not too close to the players, ideally complements the ensemble’s approach. You can find more gut-wrenching versions of these works (the Borodin Quartet, for example), but this set does the music full justice while also placing it within the great quartet tradition to which Shostakovich so often pays homage. An excellent achievement and a tremendous bargain.

– ClassicsToday (David Hurwitz)

The Bulgarian violinist Zefira Valova graduated from the National Music Academy of her native Sofia, Bulgaria, before specializing in Baroque violin studies with Lucy van Dael. While still based in her homeland, having founded Bulgaria’s only annual early-music festival (Sofia Baroque Arts Festival) she is a frequent soloist with and guest leader of the Helsinki Baroque Orchestra under its founder-director Aapo Häkkinen, who swaps the conductor’s platform on this occasion for a seat at a gentle, plangent-sounding fortepiano from 1820 of Viennese manufacture – ideally suited to the repertoire at hand. Together they make a lively and sympathetic partnership, informed by playing these youthful works in concert. Franz Schubert (1797-1828) was just 19 years old when he wrote a trio of sonatas in the spring of 1816, but he already had four symphonies under his belt as well as masterpieces of song such as Gretchen am Spinnrade and Erlkönig. Like so much of his music, they were only published after his death, when they were given both a misleading opus number (Op.137) and even title, for the diminutive ‘sonatina’ nomenclature shows little respect for both the scale of Schubert’s imagination and handling of form. On a technical level, the trio of pieces lies within the ambit of amateur players of both instruments, though more demanding for the pianist. This relative ease of execution need not obscure the rapturous melodies of the second work in the collection, D385, or its deeply felt harmonies, which culminate in an elegiac finale. Cast in the turbulent Erlkönig key of G minor, D408 turns the listener’s ear towards Beethoven, though the concise opening melody clearly speaks with Schubert’s voice. However, all three of these ‘sonatinas’ are somewhat overshadowed by the Sonata D574 from the summer of the following year, 1817, which ranks among the most inspired productions of even Schubert’s prodigious youth.

With this recording the Gran Duo Italiano showcases one of the pillars of modern violin performance that receives little if any attention today: the great composer–teacher–violinists active at the turn of the 20th century and the violin ‘schools’ that emanated from their exemplary violin techniques and interpretive practice. Such musicians, even before establishing themselves as master teachers, were both talented solo performers and members of leading chamber ensembles. Two violinists from this period who stand above the rest are Leopold Auer (1845–1930) and Otakar Sevciìk (1852–1934). This project investigates and rediscovers concert compositions written by these virtuosos. The common thread in their writing is a vibrant romanticism, dominated, of course, by their own instrument, the violin. The form and harmony pursued in these compositions sought to highlight the violin’s bel canto attributes and draw on the performer’s full range of technical skills. Auer’s limited oeuvre reveals an impressive talent for composition. His Rhapsodie hongroise Op.5 was dedicated to Pablo de Sarasate, and its relatively free structure affords soloists the opportunity to display their full technical prowess with both the left hand and the bow in writing clearly inspired by Paganini featuring flying picchettati, rapid demisemiquaver flourishes, G string passages, chromatic scales in thirds, and harmonics. His Reverie Op.3 in G is couched in intense lyricism, as is the extremely refined Reverie No.2 in E flat. His Tarantelle de concert Op.2, in which double-stopped thirds play a starring role, is bright and virtuosic in both the first and final sections, with a contrasting romantic, expressive central part.

The German-born Christian Friedrich Ruppe (1753-1826) made his career in the Dutch city of Leiden, where he had originally arrived in 1773 as a student of mathematics and literature. In 1784 he married Christina Chalon (1748-1808), the daughter of the lead violinist the of the Nederlands Theater in Amsterdam. In 1890 he was appointed as music director of the city’s renowned and ancient university, and from 1802 he taught theory of music there, having in 1788 become organist of the city’s principal Lutheran Church. In 1796 an orphanage choir was founded in Leiden on Ruppe’s initiative, consisting of girls and boys from the Holy Spirit or Poor Orphanage and Children's Home near the church. During the following church year he then composed a pair of cantatas on anonymous Dutch texts, designed for the orphanage choir. Despite their musical richness and evident beauties, the scores remained in the archives of the orphanage, only to be rediscovered in 1987. Two centuries after their first performance, they received the recordings reissued here by an accomplished team of experienced Dutch early-music performers. While comparing the cantatas to the music written by Handel for the Foundling Hospital would not flatter Ruppe, his music nonetheless exhibits many charms of its own: unfailingly graceful phrasing, for one, fresh melodic charm and sympathetic writing for voices. There appears to be a clear Haydnesque imprint to both works, but operatic models are more evident in the sinfonia that opens the Christmas Cantata as well as the style of the dramatic recitatives which move along each development of the familiar story. The work concludes with a trumpet-and-drum chorus in the style of oratorios such as Messiah and The Creation, rising to the grand harmonization of an Easter chorale designed for singing by the choir and entire congregation.

Especially in his late sonatas, Leopold Kozeluch’s keyboard music belongs no less to the quickly evolving cultural landscape of late 18th- and early 19th-century Vienna than the works of Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert. It can even at times be hard to tell which composer influenced whom; Kozeluch is his own man, not gifted in the final analysis with Beethoven’s feeling for dramatic expression, Mozart’s subtlety of formal innovation or Schubert’s melodic inspiration, but sharing a portion of these qualities while bringing to the table something of his own, not least a mood of deceptive simplicity which belongs to the world of his native Bohemia. Kozeluch (1747-1818) seems to have worked with uncommon ease and fluidity, in command of all the technical possibilities of his instrument, writing in the popular galant style and testing both performer and instrument with moto perpetuo passagework, double trills, sudden contrasts and, in the minor-key sonatas, a brooding chromaticism that belongs to the most powerful expressions of Sturm und Drang. In the hands of Kozeluch, as in those of all fine composers, they produce a musical whole that seems far greater than the sum of its parts; and, as in the creations of all geniuses, there is a profundity that cannot be explained merely by description of the processes at work. Jenny Soonjin Kim is a specialist in performances of Classical-era repertoire on instruments of the period. For this recording she performs on a modern copy of an Anton Walter fortepiano from Vienna in 1795.

Brilliant Classics proudly presents the brand-new 5-album sets series: QUINTESSENCE, attractively priced compact box sets containing essential core classical repertoire in outstanding performances. Aimed at attracting both the discerning classical connoisseur and the classical newcomer it presents the pillars of classical music: Beethoven complete symphonies, Bach Passions, Schubert symphonies, Mozart piano sonatas, Telemann Tafelmusik, Vivaldi 4 Seasons plus concertos, Shostakovich string quartets, Dvorak symphonies, Grieg Lyric Pieces, and Haydn London Symphonies. World class performers include Staatskapelle Dresden with Herbert Blomstedt, Staatskapelle Berlin with Otmar Suitner, Klara Wurtz, Hakon Austbo, Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra with Adam Fischer, Rubio Quartet and others. The fresh and colorful artwork is eye-catching while the booklet contains liner notes in English. A new series at an unbeatable price!

The present installment features Franz Schubert’s Complete Symphonies and Rosamunde performed by the Staatskapelle Dresden with conductors Herbert Blomstedt and Willi Boskovsky.

Excerpt from a review of a previously released edition of this set:

Blomstedt grinds out the menacing climax of the first movement development in the “Unfinished” as well as anyone, and in “The Great” C major Symphony he shapes an eloquent interpretation without a single dead spot, culminating in an overwhelmingly energetic finale.

-- ClassicsToday.com (David Hurwitz)

The Argentinian composer Carlos Guastavino (1912-2000) was unafraid to distance himself from contemporary modernism. He resolutely followed his own path, leaving experimentation to others, creating a catalogue of over 500 intimate, autobiographical works harking back to the 19th century, many of them for voice and piano. In keeping with the aesthetic of these songs, this album has been given a ‘vintage’ sound quality, evocative of the 45 and 78 rpm records of a bygone era. Guastavino studied chemical engineering in the Argentinian town of Santa Fe, before going to Buenos Aires in 1938, having received a district grant to study music at the National Conservatory. But on arriving there, instead of entering the conservatory, he elected to take private lessons. His earliest published songs date from around this time, and they became taken up by European artists who were entranced by Guastavino’s gift for memorable, singable melody. Concert tours took him across the world, but his music was always flavoured by the sound of his homeland nostalgia for Argentina, its people, and especially its flora and fauna in such works as Flores Argentinas (1969) and Siete Canciones sobre poesías de Rafael Alberti (1946). The intelligence and artistic sensitivity of Cuban pianist Marcos Madrigal and Italian soprano Letizia Calandra, combined with the poetics of Guastavino, make for an album of warmth, tranquility and delight. Letizia Calandra combines perfect diction with a gift for creating different vocal colours, and a dramatic skill that conveys the theatrical quality of Guastavino’s settings. For his part, Marcos Madrigal is sensitive to all the little nods and winks in Guastavino’s writing, accentuating for example his quotation of instrumental commonplaces of other periods, such as the horn call in ‘Jardín de amores’ (Garden of love), the first of the Alberti songs.

Max Reger (1873-1916) was an astonishingly prolific composer, amassing a total of well over a thousand works in a short career. His earliest compositions were lieder and chamber works, and it was the latter genre that inspired Reger to compose his finest music. His mature output reflected both the Baroque revival and modernist tendencies, with two of the most lasting influences upon his style being Brahms and Bach. Reger has an unfair reputation for complexity and turgidity that by no means defines a large share of his oeuvre. Today his music is rarely played, yet in a 1922 letter Schoenberg described him as a genius, including Reger in the same breath with Wagner, Mahler, Strauss and Debussy. Reger’s Piano Trio in E minor is sometimes described as his ‘Second Piano Trio’ but is in fact the first he composed for the usual three instruments. The first movement is a large-scale extended sonata structure on a seminal E–F–D sharp–E motif that in the manner of Brahms binds not only the movement but the entire work. A spectral pizzicato scherzo in C minor follows, then a Largo sonata–rondo with a beautiful hymn-like theme. The Brahmsian finale includes examples of Reger’s beloved fugal writing, march-rhythms and a chorale-like theme. A propensity for full textures, exemplified in much of this trio, suggests the influence of the organ loft, where Reger was perhaps most at home. The three pieces Op.79d for violin and piano, dating from 1902/4, just a few years before the Piano Trio, reveal Reger the miniaturist, as do the two brief pieces for cello and piano Op.79e. Though relatively slight in the context of Reger’s output, these sets are greatly varied in mood and indicative of the expressive range that characterizes the composer’s musical output as a whole.

The dates are deceptive: the Viennese composer Ferdinand Rebay (1880-1953) remained largely unaffected by the turbulent musical currents swirling around him in the Austrian capital during the early 20th century. Instead, he composed highly appealing music, Romantic in harmony and Classical in form, with a particular focus on the guitar. Brilliant Classics have brought his name back to light in recent years with modern recordings of the duets for clarinet and guitar (94171), the quartets for guitar, flute and strings (9250) and the sonatas for flute and guitar (9291). In a similar vein, the Italian Esteso Trio now presents three variation sets scored for clarinet, flute and guitar. The first of them is based on an Austrian folksong and conceived as a series of homages to Rebay’s Viennese forebears: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and Johann Strauss. The second takes a Tirolean folksong for inspiration and Rebay supplied his own theme for the third, again popular in character and ending with an ebullient Scherzo. In between these highly attractive variation sets, the Esteso Trio plays a Trio and a Spanish Rhapsody’, both likewise dedicated to Rebay’s niece, the concert guitarist Gerta Hammerschmied, who apparently inspired the composer’s passion for the instrument: ‘Meiner lieben Gerta! Ostern 1941’ reads the title page of the Trio. Rebay worked as a piano professor at the conservatoire and composed prolifically in his spare time – more than 600 works bear his name – in a spirit of relaxed craftsmanship that makes an hour spent in his company full of uncomplicated pleasure. ‘Rebay was no dilettante - as tuneful as his music always is, it is unfailingly imaginative’ (MusicWeb International).

Recorded in August of 2019 in Blankenburg (Harz), Germany

The booklet contains liner notes on the composer and his music by Baroque guitar researcher Monica Hall, as well as a biography of the artist

Ludovico Roncalli was born into an aristocratic family in Bergamo, Italy. He studied law and later became a priest. For his musical education he went to Rome, where he enjoyed the patronage of Cardinal Panfilio, the dedicatee of his Capricci Armonici.

This new recording contains Roncalli’s complete Capricci Armonici. The book includes Nine Sonate or suites, one in each of eight tuoni or modes and one in the tuono trasportato, following the classification system in use at the time. Each suite opens with a free-style preludio and an allemanda followed by other late seventeenth-century dance forms such as the corrente, sarabanda, giga, minuetto and gavotta. Each successive movement is based on themes from the opening allemanda which gives each suite an overall sense of unity. In these works, Roncalli is clearly influenced by Bartolotti and De Visée. His exquisite melodic lines and elegant counterpoint are seamlessly combined with the strummed five-part chords which were still a defining feature of guitar music at the time. He makes imaginative use of the characteristic guitaristic devices such as arpeggii and campanelle – bell-like effects created by playing each note of a scale passage on different courses – and elaborate ornamentation.

Beautifully played by Austrian guitarist Bernhard Hoffstötter, whose previous recordings for Brilliant Classics (Francois Campion (95276) and The Baroque Lute in Vienna (95087)) received excellent reviews. Gramophone about his Weiss recording: "some of the most sympathetic and beautiful Weiss-playing yet committed to disc".