Centaur Records
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Impressions of Debussy / Sims, Rathbun, Siskind
This album has a fascinating concept. Pianist Lori Sims first performs each work by Debussy on piano, and then Andrew Rathbun, saxophone, and Jeremy Siskind, piano perform each work, directly following the other, in Siskind's more jazz oriented arrangements. Lori Sims received the first prize gold medal at the 1998 Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition. Other prizes include first place co-winner of the 1994 Felix Bartholdy-Mendelssohn Competition in Berlin and winner of the 1993 American Pianists' Association Competition with outstanding distinction from the jury. She has performed throughout America, Europe and China, including the Israel Philharmonic, the Utah Symphony, the Indianapolis Symphony, the Spokane Chamber Orchestra, the Kalamazoo Symphony and the NordDeutsche-Rundfunks Orchestra. Toronto native Andrew Rathbun is widely esteemed as one of the most creative and accomplished saxophonists, composers and bandleaders of his generation. On tenor and soprano saxophones he has achieved a rare depth of lyricism, authoritative swing and compositional intelligence. Recording steadily as a leader since the late 1990s, he has documented his stirring original music with an array of extraordinary lineups, featuring the talents of such greats as Kenny Wheeler, Billy Hart, George Garzone, Phil Markowitz and Bill Stewart. “Rathbun’s lines dance and glide,” writes David Whiteis of JazzTimes, “reflecting both childlike wonder and well-honed artistry.” Pianist-composer Jeremy Siskind is “a genuine visionary” (Indianapolis Star) who “seems to defy all boundaries” (JazzInk) with music “rich in texture and nuance” (Downbeat). A top finisher in several national and international jazz piano competitions, Siskind is a two-time laureate of the American Pianists Association and the winner of the Nottingham International Jazz Piano Competition. Since making his professional debut juxtaposing Debussy’s Etudes with jazz standards at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Hall, Siskind has established himself as one of the nation’s most innovative and virtuosic modern pianists.
Dance / Stephen Beus
Dance is the new album from pianist Stephen Beus. “Mesmerizing… explosive… intelligent… he belongs on the world stage” (Salt Lake Tribune). In the space of four months, American pianist Stephen Beus won first prize in the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition, first place in the Vendome Prize International Competition (Lisbon) and he was awarded the Max I. Allen Fellowship of the American Pianists Association (Indianapolis). As a result of winning the Juilliard School Concerto Competition Mr. Beus made his Carnegie Hall debut with the Juilliard Orchestra and James DePreist, playing Prokofiev Concerto No. 3. He has also performed as guest soloist with the Gulbenkian Symphony (Lisbon), Oxford Philomusica, the Tivoli Symphony (Copenhagen), the Tbilisi National Opera Orchestra, the Northwest Sinfonietta (Seattle), the Royal Philharmonic of Morocco (Casablanca), the Vaasa Symphony Orchestra (Finland) as well as with the Hamburg, Indianapolis, Nashville, Santa Fe, Utah, Fort Worth, Tucson, Yakima, Bellevue, Salt Lake, Eastern Sierra, Corvallis, Jacksonville, Texarkana and Walla Walla Symphonies.
American Classic Widor, Vol. 2 / Bell
Jeffrey Chappell: Jazz Sonata, American Sonata, Etc
Tres Clavinas: Alhambra Performs Judeo-Spanish Songs of Love, Courtship & Holidays
Alhambra, an ensemble specializing in the great Judeo-Spanish (Sephardic) musical literature performs a program of music of Love, Courtship, and Holidays. Alhambra was founded by Dr. Isabelle Ganz in 1981. Based in New York, the ensemble has toured Andalusia, the British Isles (including London’s Purcell Room and Almeida Theatre), Quebec, Bogota, performed at the Quincentennial Celebration in Istanbul, The First International Festival of Jewish Art Music in Vilnius, Lithuania, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and at colleges, community centers and folk festivals throughout the U.S. They have appeared in Merkin Hall, Weill Recital Hall, for the World Music Institute, and the Jewish Museum in New York, the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, the Ordway Theater in St. Paul, the Rothko Chapel in Houston, Smith College, Hunter College, and the Eastman School of Music among many other venues. The ensemble won first prize in the Jewish performing arts competition and was a finalist in the concert artists’ guild competition, both held in New York.
Gade, N.: Violin Sonatas Nos. 1-3
Thornburg, Scott: Music for Trumpet and Piano
Scarmolin, A.L.: Orchestral Music
Capriccio: Mid-Century Music for Clarinet
Beehtoven, L. Van: Piano Sonata No. 23, "Appassionata" / Sch
Clarke: String Chamber Music / Martinson, Julstrom Quartet
Grieg, E.: Piano Music, Vol. 5
Schumann, R.: Piano Music (Live Recordings, Vol. 1)
Brotons: The Complete Works for Flute, Vol. 3
PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION
Clara Schumann: Piano Works / Junghwa Lee
Wife of Robert Schumann, Clara Wieck Schumann was a great piano virtuoso. She also was a wonderful composer of piano works. Korean-born pianist Junghwa Lee brings these works to life with vital performances. Junghwa Lee performs actively in solo recitals, chamber concerts and lecture recitals, and has frequently appeared in concerto performances as a soloist including those with the Korean Symphony Orchestra, Salina Symphony Orchestra, Hutchinson Symphony Orchestra and Greeley Philharmonic Orchestra among others. Lee has presented solo performances in Korea, Holland, France, Hungary, Romania, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Chile, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, China, the United Kingdom and the United States, including appearances at the Arts Center Concert Series at National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan, Shenyang Music Cultural Exchange Exhibition Between China and Foreign Countries Festival in China, Beethoven 32 Sonatas Recital Series in Singapore, the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series at the Chicago Cultural Center and her New York debut recital at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall as a winner of Artists International’s Special Presentation Award.
Bach: Violin Sonatas
Last Songs Of Robert Owens / Reimer, Haneline, Potter, Becker
On January 5, 2017, Robert Owens passed away in Munich. He left behind a vital legacy of music that is just now being fully discovered. Soprano Jamie Reimer has studied the life and work of Owens extensively, and gave the world premiere of his 4 Sonnets to Eleonora Druse, which are on this album. Soprano Jamie Reimer has performed in opera, oratorio and recital venues around the United States, Italy, Germany, Brazil, and Australia. Her concert appearances include performances of Mozart Requiem, Handel’s Messiah, Canteloube’s Chants d’Auvergne, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and Choral Fantasy, as well as Liszt’s Christus for the American Liszt Society’s international festival. She has performed with Opera Omaha, Omaha Symphony Chamber Orchestra, Lincoln Symphony, Hastings Symphony, and the Northern Iowa Symphony Orchestra. She has also appeared in several musical theater roles, including Tessa (The Gondoliers), Rapunzel (Into the Woods), and Martha Jefferson (1776).
Debussy: Preludes For Piano, Books 1 & 2 / Catherine Kautsky
Kautsky ‘s intimately scaled reading of Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l’air du soir brings out the music’s implicit minuet feeling that we don’t hear in heavier interpretations. In Des pas sur la neige, Kautsky not only makes the soft left-hand triplets and expressive right-hand melody timbrally distinct, but her faster than usual tempo also conveys a lighter, more floating ambience than today’s solemn, bleaker norm. Kautsky also communicates the ragged dance qualities of La serenade interrompue, La danse de Puck, Minstrels, and General Lavine–eccentric to perfection, although La puerta del vino moves too fast and impatiently for its habañera rhythms to seduce.
While many pianists make mush out of Brouillards’ middle-register chords, Kautsky clarifies their inner rhythms, although her very capable handling of Book 2 No. 10’s alternating thirds yields to Steven Osborne’s brisker, more shimmering rendition. Her lovely account of La cathedral engloutie observes the unmarked yet implied tempo changes Debussy made in his 1913 Welte-Mignon piano roll recording (as do Osborne and Paul Jacobs, but not, interestingly enough, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli). If the tumultuous Ce qu’a vu le vent d’ouest lacks Osborne’s super-precise dynamic calibration and surface sheen, the sensitively nuanced Ondine and La terrasse des audiences du clair de lune compensate. The engineering’s warm piano sonority and discreet resonance befits Kautsky’s intelligent and insightful Debussy artistry.
-- Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com
Haydn: Piano Trios, Vol. 4
Christmas On Guitar
Tribute To Haydn
Rameau, J.-P.: Nouvelles Suites De Pieces De Clavecin
Saint-Saens, C.: Cello Concerto No. 1 / Fauré, G.: Élégie /
