Here is the second volume of Bach’s Sonatas for violin and obbligato harpsichord. Terakado and Bonizzoni offer a thoroughly distinctive account of these famous masterpieces. Their approach combines a deep musical and philosophical insight with a conversational vibe.

A stunning debut by 24 years old Chinese pianist Yang Yang Cai. For her first disc she carefully selected six very diversified works by Liszt, in order to convey all her pianistic qualities: prowess and virtuosity, but also philosophical insight and colouristic finesse. Her craftsmanship, musicality and fine taste are perfectly in balance.

Fourteenth disc by Ars Antiqua Austria and Gunar Lezbor for Challenge Classics. World Premiere Recordings of three Cantatas for countertenor and violins. Alois Muhlbacher is one of most sought-after countertenors today: in 2023 has engagement with Minkowski (Alcina), Haselboeck (Bach) and tours with a Farinelli arias recital… Bononcini’s Cantatas look like a Trilogy on the theme of longing for a distant love. They were perceived in their time as innovative and progressive, directed towards the future.

Schreker is well known for his operas and wrote the libretto and composed his opera "Der Schatzgräber" after the great success of "Der ferne Klang" (1912) and "Die Gezeichneten" (1918). "Der Schatzgräber", questioning the value of materialism versus love, was to prove particularly powerful in post-War Europe. Musicweb International raves: “... this is one of those operas and recordings which ‘has it all’, from the drama and sublime beauty of the music to the glorious performance and sumptuous recording. If you are a fan of opera on record from any period this is a treat, but if you love your music-dramas exciting, moving and Romantic with a big-boned ‘R’ then this is one you will want to keep close to your media player for a long time to come.”

George Frideric Handel made a name for himself as a brilliant organist and harpsichordist early on in his career. As a young man, he travelled from Germany to Italy in 1707. We do not know exactly how much or what Handel composed for harpsichord while in Italy, but we know more starting from the time he settled in England. Handel composed all sorts of works for harpsichord in England, In November 1720, he published the Suites de Piecespour le Clavecin, now known as the Eight Great Suites, his most important work for harpsichord. The spectacular Eight Great Suites show Handel the harpsichordist at his best.

The suites are made up not only of newly composed movements, but also of improved versions of pieces he had written before and of harpsichord arrangements of his own compositions for other instruments. One theme central to interpreting Handel’s works for harpsichord (and the rest of his œuvre, for that matter) is what to do with the dotted rhythms. In Handel’s music, we regularly see a theme appearing in different rhythmic variants – sometimes dotted, sometimes not, or only partially, dotted. The question, therefore, is whether to perform these rhythms uniformly throughout the piece or to play them as they were written out in each instance by the composer. I have in large part chosen the latter.

The present release by baritone Sergio Foresti on Challenge Classics. The second where he is accompanied by the remarkable Abchordis Ensemble, conducted by Andrrea Buccarella. This recording is devoted to the arias composed by Nicola Porpora, probably the greatest of the Neapolitan composers as much as the voice is concerned. A selection of arias of different moods and characters that ceaselessly tantalize and intrigue the listener. A disc you can listen to with constant pleasure and commitment from start to end, thanks also to the orchestral accompaniment (and overtures) and the impeccable recording and production.

Thirteen Nocturnes and as many Barcarolles form the core of the collected output of Gabriel Urbain Fauré for the piano. Night-time meditations, then, along with inspiration drawn from rippling water (the origins of the barcarolle lie in the songs sung by Venetian gondoliers and the word itself comes from the Italian ‘barca’, a boat.) Along with some impromptus, préludes and other works, one might rapidly gain the impression of a delightful collection of salon music, whose titles may actually display the influence of Chopin. But this music is so very much more than pretty salon music. In the intimacy of these genres, Faure succeeded time and again in nothing short of exposing his very soul. And the French composer’s style is entirely his own-original and personal - from the first note to the last.

Hannes Minnaar received international acclaim after winning several international competitions and being awarded a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship. This re-release of his 2016 deluxe album package omits the original companion DVD.

Reviews:

‘Minnaar’s identification with this unique realm of music is complete and his deeply felt interpretations shine with clarity and infinite nuance.’ -Gramophone

‘One very exhilarating recording. Hannes Minnaar’s playing is not only sensitive but also lyrical und sometimes dreamy. With a wide spectrum in sound shades, much refinement and a continuous flow the Dutch pianist’s performances are absolutely fascinating.’ -Pizzicato

‘Minnaar consistently avoids the kitsch trap. He takes this music seriously and immerses it in different moods: a darkly flowing river, then a pointillistic sequence of small effects, then again a radiant melody over a moving underground. -Deutschlandfunk

-‘The delicate poetic qualities of Fauré’s piano pieces requires the most sensitive of touches from the pianist tackling them, and it’s clear that Hannes Minnaar is comfortably a master of the idiom.’ -CD Choice UK

‘The crystal-clear, free-flowing performance fits Fauré’s reserved luminous notes perfectly. It’s amazing how he transforms the nocturnes into musing monologues, or how he consecrates the preludes with mild severity.’ -De Standaard

Bernard Haitink farewell concert to Amsterdam and the Netherlands, dated June 2019. One of his most beloved works, Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony, in a first ever release. An outstanding account in a compelling sound, furtherly enhanced by the 180 grams double-vinyl LP format.

This is a ‘concept-album’ around Maurice Ravel and his special relation with Hélène Jourdan Mourhange, a dear friend and violinist nicknamed "Moune." The program is set-up in order to take the listener by the hand into Ravel’s musical world through a series of pieces which are gradually more deep and complex. The music is played on a 1935 Hautrive piano, while violin and cello are played on gut strings. The Tzigane is in the rare version for Luthéal (Pleyel, 1910), a period prepared piano with a distinct character. About Lina Tur Bonet, Diapason writes: “Impressive: Lina Tur Bonet’s discography aligns beautiful achievements’. Indeed her previous releases have already collected all European awards.

Amandus Ivanschiz was baptized Matthias Leopold Ivanschiz on 24 December 1727 in the Austrian city of Wiener Neustadt. As early as 1742, at the age of fifteen, Matthias decided to join the Pauline Order and took the name Amandus. On 25 December 1743 Amandus took his vows and was then sent to Maria Trost and Wiener Neustadt to study for the priesthood. The extensive oeuvre of this master, who only lived to the age of 31, is astonishing. In total, more than 300 copies of his works can be found in Central and Eastern Europe. His modern style and great compositional mastery probably explain the wide dissemination of his music. Ivanschiz might therefore also have served as a model in the development of the young Mozart. Amadeus’ first visit to the monastery is documented on 12 September 1767, after which we know he returned at least another three times.

Any attempt at dating J.S. Bach’s three sonatas for viola da gamba and obligato harpsichord (BWV 1027 – 1029) is a very complex issue. According to the most recent research, Bach’s gamba sonatas are dated 1736 – 41, and therefore could have been written for Carl Friedrich Abel (1723–1787). Here the Viola da gamba Sonatas are performed by two musicians who have a wide experience and deep knowledge of period instruments and late Baroque performing practice. They focused their attention on the instruments to play. Sergej Istomin chose a viol built by Jacob Stainer in 1655, whose sound is especially brilliant and resonant. Sofronitzky very unusually decided to play these late pieces by Bach on a Silbermann fortepiano copy, built by Paul McNulty. A new instrument at that time, the fortepiano was approved and appreciated by Johann Sebastian Bach during his visit to Gottfried Silbermann in 1747. Paul McNulty’s copy of Silbermann’s 1749 instrument represents the final stage of the builder’s development, seventeen years after the first fortepiano he had built following a description of Christofori’s original design. These two instruments’ blend of tones and colors conjure up for a unique, singing and invigorating account of well-known works.

After Bach's Goldberg Variations, which won him worldwide honors (including a Diapason d'Or from France's Diapason Magazine), Hannes Minnaar challenges and confronts what has become a 'classic' of the 20th century repertoire: Shostakovich's Preludes and Fugues, composed in 1951. Here again, the qualities of his pianism, for which he is recognized as one of the leading musicians of our time, come under the spotlight: the diversity of touch and the suppleness between tension and tranquility to characterize every Prelude and Fugue, the precision of tone, the lack of any affectation, a natural finesse in phrasing and articulation, and a familiarity with the score going hand in hand with a freshness that conjures a sense of improvisation. Here we encounter a new landmark in the crowded field of interpretations of this wonderful music.

Fifteen years after his Nouvelles Suites de Pièces de Clavecin, Rameau once again turns his attention to an instrumental work, for what will be the last time, inspired by the new potential for chamber music glimpsed in the use of the concertante keyboard. The 1741 collection is the only new work he produced between 1740 and 1744, before returning to the musical theatre – to which he will dedicate the rest of his life. The most attractive aspect of the Pièces de Clavecin en Concerts, and the one which provides the most authentic reading of the work, is the multiplicity of possible combinations in performance between the instruments indicated in the score (harpsichord, violin/flute, viola da gamba/2nd violin ), following the detailed instructions that Rameau provides for each of them in the various Avis in the preface of the printed edition. The author’s intention was undoubtedly for the harpsichord and its virtuosic protagonism to be the backbone of the Pièces; however, the possibilities of alternative timbric arrangements are specifically contemplated by Rameau for this work. What was a widespread ad libitum performance practice, today becomes an extremely inviting challenge for modern performers in terms of tonal reinvention of the pieces. Thus, with each new reading the music may be reinvented, making in turn every new listening experience a rediscovery and a revelation.

Fr�derick Franssen writes: "From among the enormous choice of horn repertoire available in the early stages of my study of the instrument, my interest was piqued by the very earliest horn music. The music from that era did and still does exert it's magic on me due to the pure beauty of it's clear and transparent sound world. One of my first finds on this quest of discovery through the Baroque period was a concerto by an unknown hand, which appears on this album and comes from a very special collection - the 'Wenster'. The library at the University of Lund in Sweden contains one of the largest collections of horn music from the first half of the 18th century, under the name of 'Wenster'. The manuscript contains 18 works, with virtually all of the composers having some sort of connection to the city of Dresden, and it may have been transcribed by a travelling horn player during a visit to that city. The six works on this recording are all taken from this collection."

This is an album that portrays an imaginary weird audition that took place in Leipzig in 1723. After Johann Kuhnau's death the Thomaskirche was in search of a new Kantor. For different reasons Telemann, Fasch and Graupner declined and the fourth choice happened to be Johann Sebastian Bach. Thomas Triesschijn and his ensemble imagine a dialogue among the four giants through their own compositions for recorder and orchestra. This recording is not only a showcase for a great virtuoso, but a fully enjoyable album with plenty of wonderful music. Triesschijn and Counterpoint previous (and first) release was awarded the Gramophone Editor's Choice: "This debut album is, hands down, some of the best recorded Telemann out there, and I am ready to go fist to fist with anyone who disagrees."

This recording of Mozart chamber music can be listened to as a pleasant private concert "en famille". The choice of the works is dictated solely by the specific instruments played by the three family members: violin, viola and keyboard. This is not a usual instrumentation in the chamber music repertoire, yet it is this combination that has given rise to a pleasantly varied program - thanks to Mozart's inexhaustible genius! This cleverly thought out program features four pieces with different instrumentations and moods in order to elicit a constant interest and pleasure from the listener. The Kuijkens Trio plays with their unmistakable understanding, tenderness, and tone color; a constant delight throughout the album.

The path traced on this album, with music by Georg Christoph Wagenseil (1715-1777), and on following ones has the undoubted merit of introducing us to some composers considered “minor” compared to Haydn and Mozart. They were not only very active and influential on the musical life of that time; they also created a considerable amount of quality music, which deserves to be rediscovered and appreciated. In a historical-musical perspective, the music of these less famous authors helps to reconstruct the passage between the decline of the Baroque, towards the middle of the eighteenth century, and the noon of the classical style. A period that we often classify as ‘pre-classical’ or ‘galant’ or ‘early Viennese school’. This praiseworthy cultural operation, aimed at rediscovering not only “minor” composers but also certain genres considered “domestic” music allows us to better understand how the “musical landscape” looked like, especially in Vienna.

Domestic music responded to the desire for cultured entertainment not only for the aristocracy but also for the rising bourgeois class; and as such, it constituted an indubitable status symbol. The six sonatas in trio on this album, dating from around the 1750s can be ascribed to the genre of ‘divertimento’: before 1780 the term was all-encompassing, and included all non-orchestral instrumental music, including sonatas and quartets. Above all, the idea of “musical conversation”, or dialogue or discourse between the different instruments, is very present in this type of composition, in which a pleasant and well-regulated lounge conversation is simulated and sublimated with just the notes. The collection of Six Sonatas, presented on this CD, from the early fifties of the eighteenth century should be placed among the first chamber documents for three independent strings, without the support of a keyboard instrument for the realization of the continuo.

Ayako Ito: “Nowadays, in concert halls, we generally see a single type of piano that normally has 88 keys and is normally black. Things were quite different in the Vienna of the 19th century: the piano had fewer keys, was decorated with wooden inlay and had no steel subframe. All this made them sound quite different. Conrad Graf was one of the finest builders of pianofortes in Vienna in the period from 1820-40. And Franz Schubert was living in the same city.We can revive a rich, warm, singing, powerful and even orchestral sound on Graf's pianofortes. His pianos feature the Viennese action or “Prellzungenmechanik”, with their hammers built up from many layers of leather. These hammers allow the performer to impart subtle nuances and dynamic contrasts. Of course, the pianos are straight-strung. The player can alter the tonal color using four pedals, with one of the pedals specific to the pianoforte being the moderator. When the moderator pedal is depressed, a strip of cashmere slips between the hammers and the strings. Christopher Clarke (1947) built the instrument used for this recording in 2000, as a facsimile of Conrad Graf's pianoforte no. 995. Clarke's pianoforte always inspires me. I find it a miraculous instrument. The utter precision of the mechanism lets us explore the finest gradations and introduce the most subtle nuances – singing, speaking or whispering. It is a mechanism that demands a high technical mastery from the player.”

Review

Ayako Ito approaches the masterpiece D960 with romantic fervour, trusting the less powerful, more refined, tone of the fortepiano will provide authentic period sound compensation. Her opening theme isn’t as soft as pp, but smoother and more swinging than the Molto moderato marking suggests. The deep bass disturbance at the end of its first full statement (tr. 1, 0:24) is more threatening than the pp marking. The clarity of Ito’s running quavers in the ‘tenor’ part enhances the tense atmosphere, yet the third part of the first theme (0:58), more pleading, moves through quiet insistence. The second theme (2:06), is in the tenor part against the ‘soprano’ descant, with Ito’s sensitive balance the latter’s creaminess like a loving companion. The dancing three-quaver groups in triplets which eventually result skip buoyantly. The phrase of resolution terminating these (4:04) deserves more breadth, but the extraordinary exposition ‘first time’ codetta (4:55), like hobgoblins arriving, Ito makes boldly gawky.

In the development (10:19) Ito prefers cool examination rather than shock, its ff climax of the dancing triplets underplayed (11:27). But she builds the tension and dynamic well to the fruition of the third theme (12:18), the most tender and memorable. Ito makes the second theme recap (16:08) more delicate and sensitive. Her coda (19:22) is tranquil yet flowing.

The opening of the slow movement juxtaposes a left-hand four note rising figure and melancholic right-hand melody. Ito makes the first and final notes of the left-hand figure very clear as bell peals three octaves apart. In this C sharp minor funeral Ito is sorrowful yet smoothly dignified, her equipoise between the hands arguably overmuch easing the pain of bereavement. The central section in A major (tr. 2, 2:59) remembers the loved one and clarifies a relationship, its theme beginning in rich ‘baritone’ register, the soprano repeat (3:26) adding varied semiquaver runs. From Ito it feels like both parties confirm shared sadness. At the return to the opening (5:36) the left-hand has an additional four-note motif, three semiquavers and a quaver, for me like funeral carriage wheels biting into the road. Ito makes it a clear, inescapable presence. The decrescendo after the melody’s climax finds the left-hand unheeding the pathos of the melody briefly in C major (6:30); yet after the next melodic climax comes a blessing, the coda (7:55) easing calmly into C sharp major.

Ito’s finale’s rondo theme begins a bit stiff in marking out the rhythm; her second strain (tr. 4, 0:21) is catchier and first episode (1:24) blends calm tone with confident movement, the relationship between melody and accompaniment grippingly maintained, until a sudden silence and ff shock (2:36) of catastrophe, especially when the melodic outburst goes into descant register.

Best of D946, Three piano pieces, is for me the first. It’s in E flat minor with urgent first strain to its right-hand cyclical theme. The second (tr. 5, 0:15) adds more rhythm, then a melody picked out from the first notes of the three-quaver groupings (0:19). The return of the first strain is in E flat major (0:50), the touch more rhythm a vehicle for Ito screaming a scrunched appoggiatura at the fz climax. The central section second theme (2:54) is in B major, festooned with turns and phrase-ending arpeggios, Ito revealing it as leisurely and affectionate. Its second strain (4:13) adds glissando-like up-and-down [32nd notes], the return of the first more luxurious in chording and close more rhetorical. To this vibrant, varied piece Ito brings considerable gusto.

--MusicWeb International (Michael Greenhalgh)

Dedicating an album to the dark side of the Lied might seem inappropriate in these times of Covid, climate change and refugee crises, but as a mezzo-soprano Olivia has always been drawn to the darker roles in opera, the sad arias in oratorio and the deep laments in song. After our recent recording (‘Dirty Minds’), which focused on ‘la petite mort’, it seemed a natural progression to turn our attention to ‘la grande mort’! Darkness in the outside world and the inner self has always been – alongside Love – one of the chief themes of vocal music, and compositions and songs about death are legion during every period of musical history. The music on this recording is extremely diverse and we relished the idea of programming songs from different centuries in different styles and genres. We begin with a collection of songs about melancholia, inner abysses, longing for death and murderous lust. But the album is also rich in songs about comfort and hope, light instead of despair – with lashings of black humor! Composers down the ages have used innovative approaches to render the theme of death. Chromaticism is used tellingly by Monteverdi and Schubert. Duparc’s sensuous ‘Extase’ (1878), is nothing short of a miniature Liebestod. Korngold and Wolfgang Rihm play with translucent semitone sighs, Schumann’s ‘Nachtlied’ is characterized by hovering harmonies; Strauss and Korngold use late-romantic opulence; while tonality with Charles Ives and Alban Berg begins to lose its hold, while Berg, abandons tonality entirely. John Cage goes a step further and directs the pianist to drum the notes on the lid of a completely closed piano. Randy Newman’s ‘In Germany before the war’ is wreathed in mystery.

Daniel Rowland writes: "I remember so well the moment I first heard Marcelo play, in the beautiful and historic Holywell Music Room in Oxford, in the autumn of 2009. Marcelo's version of a magical Piazzolla touched me deeply and I was utterly captivated and fascinated by it: by the depth, the honesty, the raw emotions, the almost unbearable tenderness, the sense of longing, of loss, the fiery passion... That day I decided to dive deeply into the world of tango, and to learn this language from Marcelo. We started playing together, and very soon became a quintet, with superb artists, brilliant musicians, virtuosos, friends, and like minded, inquisitive, musical spirits. Marcelo grew up in Buenos Aires and met Piazzolla as a child, when Astor's legendary quintet would rehearse at his parents home. Piazzolla would tell Marcelo: 'Marcelito, come and stand behind me as we rehearse and follow my printed score, and listen to what I actually play' - often these two things where very different! This is surely the most direct, and incredible insight into the master's interpretation of his music that one could possible dream of! We in the quintet very strongly feel this unique connection between Piazzolla and Marcelo, it is a great inspiration. I'm sure that Piazzolla like the young Marcelito so much because he saw not only a serious, of course very talented your artists with a huge tango-heart, but also someone who would push the boundaries of tango, keep innovating and daring to experiment, while respecting the tradition."

The relatively rare Masses that celebrate saints other than the Virgin Mary were usually composed in response to an individual’s or an institution’s particular devotional interest. There is good reason to believe that Nicolas Champion composed his Missa de Sancta Maria Magdalena expressly for Margaret of Austria, whose devotion to Mary Magdalene is well known. Champion (c. 1475-1533) worked for the Habsburg-Burgundian chapel from 1501 to 1524; this Mass was probably written between 1507 and 1515. This is the third installment in one of Challenge Classic’s most successful projects: five recordings of music drawn from the Den Bosch Choirbook.

Violinist Gunar Letzbor writes: “Franz Josef Aumann was born in the Austrian town of Traismauer in 1728 and studied music in Vienna, where he came across many important musicians of his time. It has not yet been established why in 1753 he relocated to Sankt Florian. He must have been unusually talented, as two years later he became Regens Chori, one year before his ordination to the priesthood. From that point he remained in the service of the monastery until his death in 1797. He composed “entertainment” music of the highest quality – pieces that were played for the amusement of invited guests, on special occasions, or simply between the various courses of lavish banquets. In the archives of St Florian Monastery not many chamber works have survived – only a handful, but these are of outstanding quality. The quintets are remarkable. Here the master develops a particular style of chamber music: two violins are juxtaposed with two violas. Both groups of instruments have equal status and enter into a lively discourse. Aumann mastered all the compositional techniques of his time. We can, however, observe a particular preference for melodic lines reminiscent of the folk music that was practiced in the region. For contrast, we have added the Cassatio in D, where the radiant sound of a flautello bestows a special aura upon the music. The concluding Parthia in C where trumpets symbolize the divinity or a high social position. Aumann must have been extremely innovative, not worrying too much about any rules within his environment.”

The present program presents the kind of music that might have been heard at the Feast of the Swan, an annual banquet held by the Confraternity of Our Illustrious Lady in ’s-Hertogenbosch, sometime in the middle of the sixteenth century. The combination of “sacred” and “secular” pieces might come as a surprise. However, the border between what we in the twenty-first century might imagine as two different musical realms was actually quite porous in the sixteenth. 

One of the Confraternity’s regular banquets, held each year on the first Monday after Holy Innocents’ Day (28 December), was the Feast of the Swan. The Swan was the Confraternity’s heraldic beast, a symbol of grace and purity, attributes of the Blessed Virgin. In the medieval imagination, the swan had musical associations. The anonymous bestiary Physiologus states that the Latin name for the swan (cygnus) comes from the verb “to sing” (canere), because it produces such a beautiful song from its long and flexible neck. It was thus fitting that the Feast of the Swan should include a rich musical component. Some of the singers also played instruments at the banquets.

Johann Sebastian Bach developed a new style, cembalo obbligato, where the right hand of the keyboard plays as a melody instrument and is given the same importance as the violin, flute or other solo instrument. His sonatas for melody instrument and keyboard instrument include works for flute, violin, and viola da gamba. It seems that the obbligato style interested him more than the traditional continuo role for the keyboard. As for the violin, there are two sonatas written with basso continuo and six with harpsichord obbligato. Among these works, the six sonatas in particular were conceived as a set, with a consistent style and a well-considered key distribution. This set is one of the highlights in the catalog of Bach’s chamber music. Bach’s son Carl Philip Emmanuel Bach writes to Bach’s first biographer, Johann Nikolaus Forkel, in 1774: “The 6 clavier [and violin] trios...are amongst the best works of my dearly beloved father. Even now they sound very good and give me many delights, regardless of the fact that they are over fifty years old.” The key distribution is somewhat symmetric and this suggests that Bach intended these as a set of pieces for violin, comparable to his unaccompanied sonatas and partitas for violin. Additionally, with the exception of Sonata No. 6, this set of works all follow the church sonata style.

An eclectic musician, that’s for sure. The music of Radamés Gnattali (1906-1988) might disturb a purist, but if you are free from prejudices and have your ears well opened, you will discover a fabulous craftsman, a great inventor of memories, a relentless experimenter. In this new album, entirely dedicated to the music of Gnattali, the Brazilian pianist Luís Rabello brings an historically valuable release to the international audience, with the world premiere recordings of several compositions. The album is a portrait of Gnattali's piano music, with heart warming melodies, dazzling virtuosity and a blend of Brazilian musical flavors where Classical music meets Jazz, Bossa-Nova, Samba and Choro.