Charles-Marie Widor (1844-1937) and Victor Hugo (1802-1855) were towering figures in their respective disciplines, both in France, and in the world, during their lifetimes. These songs by Widor, to Hugo texts, cover a variety of emotions, from sweet introspection to quiet desperation. Rebecca Hays is perfect for these works. She and pianist Jeffrey Peterson make the most of these marvelous songs.

Rebecca Wascoe Hays' lush, full-bodied soprano and commanding stage presence have brought her diverse critical acclaim. She brings an innate dramatic intensity and musical intelligence to all of her repertoire. In past seasons season, she has sung the title role in Tosca with Louisiana Opera, been heard as the Wife in the world-premiere performance of The Breath of Life at Texas Tech University and been featured as the soprano soloist in Verdi's Requiem with the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra.  Additional concerts have included recitals/masterclasses at Brigham Young University, Central Oklahoma University and The University of Texas at Arlington. She was heard as the soprano soloist in the Brahms's German Requiem in May 2017 at Alice Tully Hall in New York City's Carnegie Hall.

REVIEW:

Soprano Rebecca Hays sings the Widor/Hugo songs with a rich and attractive lyric soprano, even if she is occasionally pressed by Widor’s excursions into the upper register. She sings with admirable commitment, and sensitivity to the ebb and flow of the narrative. Jeffrey Peterson is an attentive collaborator, one who shines on the rare occasions when Widor injects some variety into his keyboard writing. The liner notes include Peterson’s essay and his English translations of the Hugo verses (the original French texts are not provided). Widor’s songs would benefit greatly from performances and recordings by artists steeped in the world and tradition of French song (Régine Crespin would have been marvelous in these, I think). But Rebecca Hays and Jeffrey Peterson make a strong enough case for the repertoire.

-- Fanfare (Ken Meltzer)

David Johansen, Professor of Trombone Studies at Southeastern Louisiana University, holds the Bachelor of Music Degree from Fort Hays State University, the Master of Science in Music Education from the University of Illinois and the Doctor of Musical Arts in Trombone Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Iowa. Dr. Johansen has held the positions of Principal Trombone in the Hays Symphony Orchestra, Second Trombone in the Cedar Rapids Symphony Orchestra and currently holds the position of Second Trombone in the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra. He has also performed with the Quad Cities Symphony Orchestra, the Dubuque Symphony, the Southeastern Iowa Symphony, the Ottumwa Symphony Orchestra, the Mississippi Wind Symphony, the Natchez Opera, the Rapides Symphony of Alexandria, Louisiana and the Acadiana Symphony of Lafayette, Louisiana. On the present release, alongside pianist Daniel Lau, Dr. Johansen presents Six Sonatas for Trombone and Piano from composers including William Hartley, Jacques Casterede, Paul Hindemith, and more.

Queen Christina (1626-1689), first as the Queen of Sweden, and then at her residence in exile after her abdication at the age of 30, surrounded herself by musicians, writers, and scholars. This album features works that would have been played at her court and later residence. Many of the works feature three female voices; all performances are on period instruments. Delighting audiences around the country with their spirited performances, Armonia Celeste specializes in rarely heard repertoire from the Italian Renaissance and early Baroque, accompanied by period instruments: lute, theorbo, guitar, and the rare Baroque triple harp. Together, the musicians of Armonia Celeste create an unforgettable combination of varied vocal and instrumental colors, florid ornamentation, expressiveness, and an infectious passion for this repertoire.

Telemann's twelve Fantasias, TWV 40:2-13 hold endless fascination, not only for flutists, but for a variety of instrumentalists. These works represent a unique, thorough, and systematic exploration of writing for unaccompanied flute. Leonard Garrison brings these great works fully to life. Leonard Garrison is University Distinuished Professor of Flute and Associate Director of the Lionel Hampton School of Music at the University of Idaho, flutist in The Northwest Wind Quintet and The Scott\/Garrison Duo, and Principal Flutist of the Walla Walla Symphony. A recipient of an Idaho Commission on the Arts Fellowship, a Presidents Mid\-Career Award at the University of Idaho, and 2016 prizes as Instrumental Soloist and in Chamber Music from The American Prize, he is faculty at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Michigan. He has recorded eleven critically acclaimed albums for Albany Records, Capstone Records, and Centaur Records and been a soloist on National Public Radios Performance Today, winner of the 2003 Byron Hester Competition, concerto soloist on both flute and piccolo, and a frequent performer at National Flute Association conventions.

"One of my most distinguished predecessors at Fanfare, George Jellinek, said of Steven Staryk, “I have such a high opinion of your playing that it would pain me to no end if artistry of such caliber would not have the recognition it deserves.” On the occasion of Centaur releasing this six CD retrospective of Staryk’s career, I wish I could summon George Jellinek’s ghost to do justice in describing it. The very best of the items on these CDs rank among the greatest violin recordings in existence. What makes Steven Staryk so special? First of all there is his technique, which at its best may be compared to Perlman, Ricci, and Milstein’s. I hesitate to compare Staryk to Heifetz; however one feels about Heifetz’s sound, I have no doubt that his technique was something perfect unto itself. Staryk’s tone is simply remarkable. It is radiant, with a feeling of sinew subsumed in its glorious texture. Staryk has no weaknesses. You simply are amazed that a man can draw such a tone from an inanimate object; the sound seems to possess a life of its own. All this would amount to nothing were it not matched by Staryk’s musicianship. He exhibits a musicality marked by a laser like precision of meaning. At any point in a phrase, you know exactly what Staryk’s intent is. Somehow, had the composer played the violin, you feel he would want to sound like Steven Staryk, so close is the identification between creator and soloist. The present retrospective is the nearest thing I know to discovering music all over again. In a nutshell, Steven Staryk is a phenomenon.

Volume 1 opens with an unbelievable live account of Paganini’s First Violin Concerto. It surpasses the studio versions of Francescatti, Menuhin, and Perlman. Indeed, the only Paganini recording I know of in this league is Ossy Renardy’s first rendition of the caprices. Staryk sees the concerto as a totally serious work, not a sequence of good tunes embellished with a bag of tricks. His viewpoint, though operatic, never loses a sense of proportion. In the first movement, the cantabile sections are infused with pathos. The evenness of Staryk’s attacks is remarkable. His double-stops are filled with color and beautiful intonation. In the slow movement, Staryk engages in a variety of articulations and shadings unknown to almost any other violinist. The orchestral tuttis are trimmed somewhat in the last movement, but not awkwardly. Here the solo part suggests a supernatural dance in which the dancers never touch the ground. Staryk’s tone is refulgent with the light of the sunny South. If you want to understand the astonishment Paganini caused in his lifetime, you have to hear this performance.

We are very fortunate to have Staryk’s account of the Beethoven Concerto partnered by a great orchestra and conductor, the Royal Concertgebouw under Bernard Haitink, despite the slightly dicey condition of the source material for this remastering. If you are familiar with Haitink’s rather sedate accompaniment for Henryk Szeryng on their studio recording of the concerto, you may be surprised by the passion he supplies for Staryk. Conductor Jaap van Zweden, a former Concertgebouw concertmaster, has spoken about “the magic of Bernard.” It is fully in evidence here. The orchestra’s winds in particular are exceptional. Staryk at age 29 plays with a youthful spirit but plenty of sensitivity. He draws from his Stradivarius a wealth of rich tone in the first movement. He never makes an edgy attack. His performance of the Fritz Kreisler cadenza evinces a cornucopia of tonal possibilities for the violin. Staryk and Haitink turn the Larghetto into a continuous aria. Staryk phrases here with a delicacy way beyond his years, offering passages that are almost avian-like in their naturalness and expressiveness. In the last movement, Staryk adopts a pose of relaxation and ease, making light of all the technical challenges, even in the cadenza and coda. It would be instructive to have a more recent performance of the concerto made available, yet this 1961 concert account is a major accomplishment.

After spending about 40 hours listening to Steven Staryk—A Retrospective, I am loathe to put aside these CDs and file my review. Staryk is revealed here not just as a great musician but also as a trusted friend of the listener. Few artists give of themselves so wholeheartedly to their audience. Even though many of these recordings are monaural and less than state of the art, I guarantee that they will entrance you infinitely longer than the latest PR confections on CD of our pretty young violinists. Perhaps it is not too late to provide Steven Staryk with the major international reputation he so richly deserves. Compared to him, nearly all other violinists indeed sound like children.

FANFARE: Dave Saemann

Italian pianist Sebastian Di Bin is one of the truly great pianists of our generation. His recording of the Liszt Transcendental Etudes was released to great critical acclaim. His performances of Russian piano music are infused with great the great passion that this music deserves. Sebastian di Bin was born in Udine in 1981. He began studying piano at 7 years old. In 2002 he graduated with highest marks at Conservatory G. Rossini in Pesaro. He went on to win prizes at several prestigious international competitions. Recently, he published a book of music with 15 of his own compositions. Currently, he is finishing his piano studies at the International Academy “Beniamino Gigli” in Recanati.

Gary Schocker is a prolific contemporary composer. He has composed widely for the flute, an instrument he plays himself, but also composes for other instruments, including the piano, which is his other instrument. These are wonderful melodic works, full of personal introspection. Born into a musical family in Easton, Pennsylvania, Schocker began his musical career on piano, making his recital debut at the age of three. By the time he was ten, he had added flute to his musical studies. Schocker made his professional debut as a flutist at the age of 15, appearing as soloist with both the Philadelphia Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic, thus establishing a name for himself even before attending The Juilliard School and winning numerous prestigious competitions, including the National Flute Association’s Young Artist Competition, the New York Flute Club’s Young Artist Competition, the East and West International Concert Artists Competition, and Young Concert Artists Competition. In 1988, he cemented his reputation as a versatile performer by filling in, with only a few hours’ notice, for an ailing Jean-Pierre Rampal in a performance of the Mozart D Major Concerto with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, composing new cadenzas in his head on the way to the concert hall.

This is an album of four contemporary works for soprano and piano. Three are by superb but less well-known, the fourth by Gyorgy Ligetti, who needs no introduction. These works are all beautifully performed by soprano Kirsten Ashley Wiest, and pianist Siu Hei Lee. Award-winning coloratura soprano Kirsten Ashley Wiest is firmly committed to the continuous evolution of classical vocal music. Her “bright, dazzling vocal technique” (San Diego Story) has captured the attention of composers worldwide, resulting in numerous world premiere performances including works by James Erber (UK), Lei Liang (CN/US), Veronika Krausas (CA/US), Gérard Pape (FR), Rand Steiger (US), Jeffrey Holmes (US), Jack Van Zandt (US), and Annie Hsieh (AU), among many others. A London-based music researcher, pianist, scholar and teacher, Alvin/ Siu Hei has been praised for his extraordinary performance virtuosity and impressive balance in chamber music (Paul Muller, Sequenza21). As a researcher, he wrote on the commedia dell’arte character Pierrot and detailed the social and political meanings of the modernist character from the late 19th century onwards. As a native of Hong Kong and previously a resident of California, Siu Hei also studied the popular music of China and Hong Kong in the light of politics and postcolonialism, as well as contemporary music with a focus on Chinese American composers.

Contemporary composer David Loeb continues his series of albums for Centaur Records. Guitarist Paul Smith had previously played some of Loeb’s works, and he suggested an album of compositions which comprise narrative or pictorial points of departure rather than abstract theoretical pieces. David Loeb took up the challenge, and this intriguing album is the result. Composer David Loeb was born in 1939 to a family which took music and the arts very seriously. He studied first with Peter Pindar Stearns at the Mannes College of Music, and then received his master’s degree from Yale. His catalog of compositions is quite remarkably extensive and diverse. In addition to the typical assortment of works for orchestra, chamber ensembles, and voice, he has also composed extensively for Asian instruments and for early music instruments. Sometimes, he even brings the two worlds together and scores for combinations like four shakuhachi and four viols.

U.S.-based Polish pianist Elzbieta Bilicka has been praised for "organic combination of thought and emotion." This can be keenly felt in this evocative program "Lights & Shadows." Elżbieta Bilicka was born in Słupsk (Poland). In 2011 she finished the music school in her hometown and passed her leaving examinations at the III Navy High School in Gdynia. In 2016 she got the Masters of Arts degree at the Feliks Nowowiejski Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz where she studied with Agata Nowakowska-Gumiela, Alberto Nosè and Katarzyna Popowa-Zydroń. From 2016 to 2018 she was a member of the class of Nelson Goerner at the Haute Ecole de Musique de Geneve in Switzerland. Elżbieta has taken part in various piano competitions winning prizes and distinctions. The latest and most important of them are: the honorable mention, laureate title and special prizes for the best rendition of a W.A. Mozart concerto and I.J. Paderewski pieces at the X International Ignacy Jan Paderewski Piano Competition in Bydgoszcz (2016) and the 3rd prize at the Polish Chopin Piano NIFC Competition in Katowice (2016). In 2018 Elżbieta was awarded The Young Poland Scholarship of the Polish Minister of Culture.

Alfred Desenclos and Jean Langlais were both superlative composers of choral music, yet most of their works are performed far too infrequently. This album offers superb performances of some of the best choral works by these great French masters. Initially called the ‘Madrigal Singers,’ the USC Thornton Chamber Singers were first formed in 1939 under the direction of Max T. Krone — a professor of music education, composition and choral music, as well as the dean of USC’s former Institute of the Arts. In 1942, Krone brought Dr. Charles C. Hirt, then the director of the Glendale High School choirs and a USC alumnus, to the school as both a lecturer and as Director of the Chamber Singers. Hirt later established and became chair of the Choral and Sacred Music department. In 1956, the Chamber Singers adopted its current name in a move designed to better reflect the group’s repertoire.

Lawrence Golan's Fantasia for Solo Violin, written in 1993, was inspired by Ysaye's sonatas of 1924, which, in turn, were inspired by the unaccompanied violin works of J.S. Bach, dated 1720. Hence this recording represents the inspirational lineage of a composition spanning almost three centuries. Acclaimed for his vibrant, inspired performances, imaginative programming and evocative command of different styles and composers, American conductor Lawrence Golan has developed a reputation as a dynamic, charismatic communicator. He has conducted throughout the United States and in Bulgaria, Canada, China, Czech Republic, El Salvador, England, Georgia, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan, and continues to develop relationships with orchestras nationally and abroad.

This is a program of great choral works, including one work from the 1500s, works from the 20th Century, and one work, Black Pierrot that was commissioned by R. Paul Crabb for the ensembles on this album. R. Paul Crabb, University of Missouri's Director of Choral Activities, earned degrees in Music Education, Vocal Performance and Choral Music Education. His ensembles have performed at state, regional and national conventions and have traveled extensively in Mexico, Germany, Austria, Italy, Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Russia, Bulgaria and Australia. Crabb served as assistant conductor at the Russian/American Choral Symposium for two years where his choir was invited as the resident American choir at the Moscow Conservatory. He served for one year as a visiting professor in Salzburg, Austria, where he taught and worked with the choir of the Salzburg Cathedral. He has taught conducting in Taiwan, eighteenth-century music in England, and studied sixteenth century polyphony in Italy with the renowned Peter Phillips. More recently he served as Guest Visiting Choral Professor at the Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, Hungary - the first American selected for that position.

Argentine-born violinist Tomas Cotik has fully devoted himself to the study and interpretation of the Bach solo sonatas and partitas for violin. This is truly one of the greatest traversals of this transcendent music. Hailed by Michael Tilson Thomas as “An excellent violinist,” Tomas Cotik is internationally recognized as a soloist, chamber musician, and professor. A much sought-after recording artist, Dr. Cotik is currently involved in more than fourteen album recordings for Naxos and Centaur records, which have received over a hundred reviews and the highest praises from some of the best-known publications. Committed to passing on his passion for music, Dr. Cotik taught at the University of Miami, Florida International University, and West Texas A&M University. He was appointed assistant professor of violin at Portland State University in 2016.

This release goes to show that Bach is beautiful on any instrument. Zaira Meneses plays Bach on guitar with unusual sensitivity and style. This is anything but mechanical Bach. This is Bach living and breathing on the guitar. Zaira Meneses is among the most exciting performers on the international classical guitar circuit. Her musicality and charisma have delighted audiences on three continents. Zaira Meneses was born in Xalapa, Mexico. From an early age she showed great talent for music, studying both classical guitar and voice. She traveled widely, performing as well with the famed Orquesta de Guitarras. At the age of 17 and as the youngest contestant, she won first prize in an important national concerto competition. This success led to performances of Joaquin Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez and Concierto Madrigal for two guitars throughout Mexico. Since moving to the USA in 2001, Meneses has built a stellar reputation for her warm sound, limpid technique, and superb natural musicality, performing in many of the great concert halls of the world, including Boston’s Jordan Hall, New York City’s Alice Tully Hall, and Salzburg’s Wiener Saal.