Classical Music

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Last production staged by Patrice Chéreau, this « Elektra » will remain as the main and most striking lyrical event of these last years in Aix-en-Provence. In 1903, Richard Strauss attended a performance of Elektra, a play by the Viennese poet Hugo von Hofmannsthal based on the tragedy by Sophocles. Three years later, Strauss came to an understanding with Hofmannsthal on a lyric adaptation of the play. Even though tepidly received at its premiere on 25 January 1909 in Dresden, Elektra quickly won over audiences and today occupies an enviable place in the repertoire of opera houses the world over. With its clear-cut contrasts and telluric power, it is one of the most scathing masterpieces of the whole lyric repertoire.

Elektra comes in the wake of Salome with the same dimensions (a single act lasting approximately an hour and three-quarters), a story taking place in ancient times, extreme feelings, and devastating violence. Frenzied unity of place, time and action, with the drama unfolding in the courtyard of the palace in Mycenae, in real time. It tells how Electra, daughter of King Agamemnon, keeps alive the memory of her father, murdered upon his return from Troy by his wife, Clytemnestra, and her lover, and dwells only on vengeance. And how this vengeance finally comes about.

This production is leaded by three amazing singers: the German soprano Evelyn Herlitzius gave a tremendous, never-to-be-forgotten account of the title role, Waltraud Meier portrays a human and chilling Clytemnestra and Adrianne Pieczonka is a fantastic Chrysothemis.

Everyone’s loneliness and intimate struggles are Patrice Chéreau’s favorites theatrical themes. With Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting the Orchestre de Paris, this production of Elektra becomes an unforgettable experience.

Richard STRAUSS (1864-1949)
Elektra

Elektra – Evelyn Herlitzius (soprano
Klytämnestra – Waltraud Meier (mezzo)
Chrysothemis – Adrianne Pieczonka (soprano)
Orest – Mikhail Petrenko (baritone)
Aegisth – Tom Randle (tenor)
Tutor – Franz Mazura (bass)
Coro Gulbenkian
Orchestre de Paris/Esa-Pekka Salonen
Stage director: Patrice Chéreau
rec. live, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, July 2013

Region Code: 0 (all)
Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Image: NTSC, colour, 16:9 Sound: Dolby 2.0 Stereo, 5.1 Dolby Digital
Subtitles: French, English, German, Italian, Spanish
Timing: [110:00 (opera) + 23:00 (bonus)]

Classical Music

Classical Music

Johan Helmich Roman is called the “Father of Swedish music” and also the “Swedish Handel”. And with good reason, as his instrumental works match Handel’s chamber music in charm, virtuosity formal structure and tunefulness. There is no better advocate for these somewhat neglected works than Jed Wentz and his musical companions of Musica ad Rhenum. They are thoroughly aware of the stylistic details of the music and its performance.Included are liner notes by Jed Wentz.

The Chinese music here recorded is of a thoroughly traditional kind. There are, of course, certain fundamental differences between Chinese and Western music, exemplified in the music for the qin, the ancient Chinese zither, with its emphasis on a melodic line of great subtlety, in which nuances of timbre are of great importance, coupled with its symbolic significance. While much of Western music is abstract, Chinese music tends to be programmatic, offering usually a general picture rather than a detailed sequence of events, although there are occasional examples of the latter. The present collection includes examples of regional music as well as two examples of recent compositions in traditional style. The nine pieces can be classified as follows: Moon in Xunyang is an example of Jiangnan music, traditional folk music of the Shanghai region. Bells from the Temple, Sorrow of Zhaojun, Autumn Moon in the Han Palace and Flying Birds are examples of Cantonese ensemble pieces. Beyond the Frontier and Chanting in the Temple are transcribed, the first from a well-known Tang Dynasty piece for pipa (Chinese lute) and the second from a work for qin (traditional Chinese zither). Jin Chun Luo and Resentment are original compositions, the first based in Chaozhou music. Four instruments are used for the present recording, erhu (two-string fiddle), pipa (Chinese lute), zheng (zither) and xiao (end-blown flute), played by Hong Kong musicians Lam Fung, So Chun Bo, Wong Kuen and Loo Kah Chi. The music is played by various combinations of these instruments in quartet, trio or duet, with one solo for erhu, Flying Birds.

The JACK Quartet follow up their acclaimed, best selling release of Iannis Xenakis’ complete string quartets (mode 209) with a disc devoted to another iconoclastic European composer, Helmut Lachenmann. Lachenmann has created a unique sound world which he refers to as “instrumental musique concrete.” It is a world where the musical atom is not the note but the sound, which may be drawn from the instrument in all kinds of unusual ways. Strange as the soundscape may be, Lachenmann believes that the fundamental principles of music is about finding shape and continuity, about revealing the unexpected and touching the familiar, and that the string quartet, in particular, is about conversation. Even through all the use of extended techniques, this is still a music of gestures, phrases, even melodies. The JACK Quartet, specialists in new music, are the perfect performers for such repertoire. This recording is endorsed by the composer. Liner notes by Paul Griffiths.

Ibert: Piano Music

Giovanni paolo cima;Francesco Turini; G.B. Buonamente; Dario Cast London Baroque The Trio Sonata in 17th Century Italy.

The court of the Gonzaga family in Mantua occupied a unique and distinguished position in 16th and 17th century Italy both for the quality and quantity of musical activity associated with it and its palatine basilica of Santa Barbara. With the construction of Santa Barbara, Duke Guglielmo Gonzaga succeeded in endowing the city with a monumental palatine basilica and its own autonomous liturgy. Equally important was the formation of the cappella musicale: Guglielmo recruited the finest vocalists and instrumentalists available and promoted the composition of cyclical masses, magnificats, and motets based on melodies drawn from the liturgy of the palatine basilica. The present recording focuses on the music of Amante Franzoni, Maestro di Cappella of the St. Barbara Basilica. His Vespers for Santa Barbara include 4, 5, and 6-part, as well as polychoral Psalms. Short instrumental interludes are included between the choral works.

Vedi Napoli e poi muori; "See Naples and die." As the famous expression goes, there is nowhere in the world more beautiful than Naples, so once there, there is no need to go any further. This release invites you to experience a Neapolitan evening, or Serenata Napoletana, with a collection of beautifully soothing music for the mandolin and piano. Although at the end of the 19th century Naples was more famous for it's songs than it's instrumental music, it was actually a highly innovative period for the mandolin. Indeed, the two forms developed closely alongside each other, with some features crossing both vocal and instrumental music; the uniquely Neapolitan melodic lines come across strongly in both the voice and the mandolin, and the accompaniments also contain similarities, with the piano on this disc clearly invoking the flute that would normally accompany a singer. This release brings together 12 different composers to offer a fascinating selection of the music of this time, none of which has ever been recorded before. Almost all the featured composers studied or taught at Naples' renowned conservatoire, San Pietro a Majella, where the mandolin was given serious treatment as a classical instrument for the first time. These pieces are a fitting counterpart to the long established tradition of the Neapolitan canzone, and any lover of Romantic music will find themselves instantly transported to one of Italy's most seductive and evocative cities. These rare works are interpreted by young performers Raffaele La Ragione and Giacomo Ferrari. With Raffaele hailing from Naples originally, the two met while studying in Milan, and soon found a shared passion in these works. They have given several public performances together, of which the press praised for their "lyrical" and "elegant" playing. This release invites to you an evening in Naples, one of the most beautiful and romantic cities in the world, and listen to an enchanting collection of Neapolitan songs, played by the mandolin, the instrument most closely related to that city of cities, and accompanied on the piano. Most of these songs, which have never been recorded before, are from 19th century sources. They are a tribute to the mandolin, treated as a serious classical instrument in that time, and to the traditional Neapolitan song, whose sentiment and content are so closely related to it's city of origin. Beautifully played by two young Italians, sharing their passion for this neglected genre. Unique opportunity to own works never published or recorded before. Extensive liner notes on the music by Raffaele La Ragione.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Alexandra Hawley and Jeffrey McFadden offer a wonderfully eclectic program for flute and guitar. If you haven't heard this combination of instruments before, on the evidence presented here you'll very likely agree that it's a most musically rewarding pairing. The flute's smooth timbre ideally complements the guitar's non-legato and softly percussive tone quality--aspects put to good use in Robert Beaser's Mountain Songs, where McFadden's rustic, folksy picking and strumming is tempered by Hawley's serenely floating melodies. Joan Tower's quasi-impressionistic Snow Dreams initially conjures up idyllic, pastoral images before the composer's spiky harmonic style slightly sharpens the music's edges. Likewise, Lowell Liebermann's Sonata for Flute opens with a blissfully ruminative Nocturne, an atmosphere that dissipates immediately with the start of the nervously dancing Allegro finale.


Based on Mexican folk tunes, Terry Riley's Cantos Desiertos features delightfully stirring dances rendered with the aid of percussion. Finally, Peter Schickele's Windows offers a neo-Renaissance Pavane and a songful Cantilena before charging into an all-out strum-fest for the closing Refrain. Hawley and McFadden play beautifully, sounding convincingly at home in all of the varying styles and modes presented by this unusual mix of composers. Naxos' engineering gives listeners a realistic sense of the recording venue. This is one of those discs you just put in your player and totally enjoy.
--Victor Carr Jr, ClassicsToday.com

All tracks have been digitally mastered using 24-bit technology.

Two major international forces at the leading edge of contemporary music - The Smith Quartet and American composer Steve Reich - come together for new recordings for three of his most inspiring works. Triple Quartet for three string quartets, Reich's personal dedication to the late Yehudi Menuhin, Duet, and the haunting Different Trains for string quartet and electronic tape.

Classical Music

Classical Music

The two works on this release are highly contrasting- Johannes Brahms’s Clarinet Quintet and David Bruce’s Gumboots. David Bruce describes his inspiration for Gumboots: “…it was born out of the brutal labour conditions in South Africa under Apartheid, in which black miners were chained together and wore Gumboots while they worked in the flooded gold mines… slapping the boots and chains was used by the workers as a form of communication which was otherwise banned… this later developed into a form of dance.” Clarinetist Julian Bliss performs here alongside the Carducci Quartet.

Angèle Dubeau's favourite pieces from some of the most unforgettable movies, performed with her ensemble La Pietà.

Sibelius' early Quartet in B-flat Op. 4 (1890) is quite lovely and well worth hearing. It contains some striking anticipations of the composer we know and love, particularly in the harmonies of its slow movement and in its imaginative use of string texture (pizzicato especially). It also shows something of that instinctive feeling for movement that the mature composer developed to such a phenomenal degree. The Tempera Quartet performs both this work and the later Voces Intimae with notable liveliness and evident enthusiasm. In the latter piece, the clean ensemble and vigorous rhythmic profiling prevent the music from sounding dour, particularly in the central slow movement (from which the quartet's nickname derives). However, on occasion--in fortes--the tone of the violins turns a bit crude as the players dig into the notes with excessive vehemence.

The opening piece on the disc, a 12-minute Adagio, features a few attractive but not really memorable ideas. It ends somewhat ambiguously (nothing new when it comes to Sibelius), here suggestive of more to follow--but what that might have been we will probably never know. A tiny fragment of the original ending of Voces Intimae only a few seconds long fulfills BIS's intention to record every scrap of music that Sibelius wrote; but the disc concludes sonorously with the Andante festivo, taken at a good clip and sounding less solemn than usual in this reduced format. As suggested with respect to the major works, the Tempera Quartet handles all of this music expertly, and BIS's sonics are the most consistently excellent in the business. Do try the B-flat quartet: its quality will surprise you.

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

Classical Music

Though Couperin was a contemporary of J.S. Bach his fashionable life at Versailles could serve to make that great German seem quite stodgy. Always at the forefront of taste Couperin's trendsetting is nowhere more evident than in his Les Nations an overtly French set of trio pieces played stylishly here by Musica ad Rhenum with Jed Wentz.

The intelligence, sensitivity, and innate musicality distinguishing violinist James Ehnes' terrific unaccompanied Bach carries over to his first volume of the composer's sonatas with harpsichord. What immediately strikes you is the ideal balance between Ehnes and harpsichordist Luc Beauséjour--not just sonically speaking, but in how they effortlessly proportion their phrases and perfectly synchronize trills, turns, and other ornaments. Beauséjour's discreet and effective registrations complement the subtle variations in Ehnes' tone, especially in slower, sustained writing (the quicker-than-usual A major sonata's Andante is a good example). Also notice how Ehnes manages to project a full, rounded, and beautiful tone even when he employs vibrato sparingly. In other words, Ehnes achieves an organic synthesis of period-instrument practice with the virtues of modern violin technique, all to the music's expressive, dance-oriented good. Among numerous world-class Bach violin sonata recordings of disparate stylistic stripes, Ehnes and Beauséjour deserve room at the top. May their second volume prove equally nourishing. [2/14/2005] --Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com

This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.

"We have here more of the early 1970s quadraphonic recordings made by Philips but which had remained in their tape boxes untouched for 30 years or more because of the realization that none of the quad LP formats of the time was really a viable means of releasing these excellent surround sound recordings to the general public. Since they started in l970 by this time the Philips engineers had perfected their micing to achieve the utmost realism and naturalness in discrete four-channel recording."

--John Sunier, Audiophile Audition