Classical Music

Mykola Lysenko (1842–1912) is regarded as ‘the father of Ukrainian classical music’ but his music is virtually unknown outside his home country.

As did Bartók later in Hungary, Lysenko went out into the field, listened to what the people were singing and fashioned an individual musical language that brought together the styles of Chopin and Liszt and the essence of Ukrainian folksong.

This CD presents his complete output of music for violin and piano, the main piece being the popular Second Rhapsody on Ukrainian Themes also known as ‘Dumka-Shumka’.

It is complemented by Spring Kaleidoscope, a new work for violin and piano commissioned by the performers on this CD to display the lyrical riches of Lysenko’s vocal writing: it is a transcription for violin and piano by the Ukrainian composer Viktor Kaminsky of ten Lysenko songs.

This CD is launched together with another Toccata Classics CD, Mykola Lysenko – Piano Music: Volume One, also played .by Arthur Greene.

The booklet contains commentary in both English and Ukrainian.

Solomia Soroka, violin, studied in her native Ukraine and resides in the USA. She has recorded CDs of Leone Sinigaglia, Arthur Hartmann and Myroslav Skoryk for Toccata Classics, where one critic praised the ‘elegance and refinement’ of her playing, continuing that ‘the ensemble between her and Arthur Greene, a husband and wife team, is splendid’. Arthur Greene was born in New York and grew up in Sheffield, Mass.; he studied at Yale and Juilliard where he studied with Martin Canin. He now teaches at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Commissioned by Richard Gregson-Williamson in 1989 for the Exeter Festival, Plague and the Moonflower by Richard Harvey takes the listener into an uneasy world, teetering on the precipice of the millennium, and tortured by fear. Alongside the scoring by Harvey is an exceptional libretto by Ralph Steadman. Performing on this recording are the Choir of New College, Oxford, under the direction of Edward Higginbottom, the New London Children’s Choir, under the direction of Ronald Corp, and the English Chamber Choir.

Russian pianist and composer Valery Kuleshov’s limitless technique, palette of colors, sense of structure and range of sonorities beggar belief. His “Boris Godunov Suite” – transcribed after Mussorgsky’s opera – captures in pianism of nearly unparalleled invention and difficulty the work’s rich orchestral textures. The thrill and excitement of Mussorgsky’s “Night on Bald Mountain” is superbly maintained in Kuleshov’s awe-inspiring tour-de-force transcription. Tchaikovsky’s “Romeo and Juliet”, transcribed by Florian Noack, remains as fresh and colorful as the original.

Hindemith: Chamber Music, Composer Paul Hindemith, Artist Valerius Ensemble, Format 1 CD, Paul Hindemith, considered the foremost German composer of his generation, believed in a strong link between music and social needs, and regarded the composer as a craftsman; someone who could provide for those needs. His chamber music is renowned for being unconventional and eclectic; the composer often experimented with a variety of styles and combinations of instruments. The Trio Op.47 uses the heckelphone, a baritone oboe used in several of the works of Richard Strauss. Op.47 is particularly notable for the atmospheric Arioso for this rare instrument. Unusual instrumentation is also found in the Clarinet Quintet, thanks to the appearance of the E flat clarinet in the central movement, leading the ensemble through a series of waltzes and a fugue of considerable length. The Kleinerkammermusik Op.24 No.2 is one of the composer's best-loved works, showcasing his humorous side through the use of playful dissonance. Our collection ends with the lyrical beauty of his famous Sonata for Trumpet and Piano. The Valerius Ensemble enjoys a successful calendar of performances in concert halls and for radio and television, having toured throughout the Netherlands, Spain and Brazil. With a special interest in contemporary music, the ensemble has had several works written especially for it, by composers such as Carlos Míchans and Leo Samama. In celebration of the Hindemith-year 2013 (50 years after his death in 1963) this recording presents a generous selection of his chamber music output. Written for a wide variety of instruments (heckelphone, flute, horn, clarinet, oboe, trumpet, violin, viola, piano) it represents Hindemith's eclectic, witty and vibrant style, in which neo-classical, expressionistic and jazzy elements fuse together in a very personal way. High caliber performances by Netherland's best instrumentalists, evidently enjoying this fascinating and intriguing music.

Der Rosenkavalier is one of Strauss’ best known operas. Set in Vienna during the early years of the Empress Maria Theresa’s reign, the work takes the form of a comedy in 3 acts, set to an original German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It bears a strong resemblance in terms of plot to Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro and is written in a different vein to Strauss’s preceding avant-gardist creations, something the composer, appearing to have succumbed to popular taste, was heavily criticized for.

THE BASSOON ABROAD: Foreign Composers in Britain • Jennifer Harris (bn); Ens Chameleon • CARUS 83.463 (69:25)


GALLIARD 6 Sonatas for Bassoon/Cello and Basso Continuo: No. 1 in a; No. 2 in G; No. 5 in d; No. 6 in C. The Advice. TRAD The Bush aboon Traquair. The Flowers of Edinburgh. The Lass of Pattie’s Mill. MERCI 6 Sonatas for Bassoon, op. 3: No. 1 in B?; No. 3 in E?; No. 4 in g; No. 5 in c. LAMPE The Solitary Relief. The Maid’s Request


Elsewhere in this volume, I welcome The Proud Bassoon , a recital of German and French bassoon works from the late Baroque period played by the Scottish Baroque bassoon virtuoso Peter Whelen. Now, here from the same package of goodies sent by publisher Joel Flegler, is another recital of Baroque bassoon works, played by a different outstanding proponent of the instrument, English-born Jennifer Harris. These are works primarily of the French (despite the name) composer Luigi Merci and German composer John Ernest Galliard, both of whom immigrated to England to become part of the lively music scene dominated by another German, George Frideric Handel. Harris, incidentally, has made the counter-move, having transplanted to Germany for her advanced studies and subsequent career as an orchestral and chamber musician. She is currently professor of Baroque bassoon at the Conservatory of the City of Vienna University.


The two principal composers are not well known. Galliard moved to England by way of the Court of Denmark to become chapel-master of Somerset House in London. Merci served James Brydges, first Duke of Chandos, before moving to London as well. Among the few surviving works, both produced a set of six sonatas for bassoon and continuo, four each of which Harris has chosen as the core of this recital. They are remarkable for their timing—the bassoon was just coming into its own as a solo instrument at the time of their composition and publication—and for their quality and variety of style. While not masterpieces on the exalted plane of Handel, they display the considerable melodic gift of their creators, and are substantial works which suggest the discernment and playing skill of the public which bought them for home music-making.


Like the works on The Proud Bassoon , these sonatas often require a soloist of considerable skill to pull them off. New instruments based on surviving period bassoons, courses of study to teach the instrument with its complex, very different fingerings, and still others to teach period performance practice, are now resulting in a crop of outstanding proponents of the instrument and this repertoire. Harris is clearly one of these, and she and the remarkable artists of Ensemble Chameleon are making a most impressive CD debut with this outstanding release. The works may not be masterpieces, but the performances are, with Harris’s imaginative, charismatic, and always virtuoso performances ably seconded by the other four members of Ensemble Chameleon. They are so good they should be named individually: Ulrike Becker plays Baroque cello; Barbara Messmer, violone; Andrea Baur, lute; and Evelyn Laib, harpsichord. The often subtle, continually varied sonorities produced as accompaniment are a constant delight, with the alternate use of plucked strings and harpsichord especially nicely done. Tempos are lively but avoid the Lamborghini-like approach of some ensembles from farther south.


Solo honors are shared a bit. The ensemble, sans bassoon, plays German composer John Frederick Lampe’s ballad The Solitary Relief , taken from a 1756 song collection Apollo’s Cabinet , and Harris joins them for a sampling of Scottish airs from the same collection. Laib takes a solo turn in the same composer’s The Maid’s Request . Becker and Baur play a Galliard ballad, The Advice . They are as impressive individually as collectively.


Carus, known for its superbly engineered releases, has added yet another to its catalog. Notes by the soloist, to which I am indebted, are lively and informative, and provide, along with the context of the works, a clever motivation for the program concept. She also makes an interesting connection between the period settings of Scottish airs interspersed among the sonatas, and the music of Merci and Galliard. All in all, presentation and music, the release is perfect. Some admirers of late Baroque music may shy from this disc because of the drier, stuffier quality of the Baroque bassoon. That would be a shame, as the sonority is ideal for the music and the ensemble. and the music is a delight. Highly recommended.


FANFARE: Ronald E. Grames

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

The Art of Dimitri Mitropoulus Vol. 2 contains these gems! NYPO: Tragic Symphony #6 in a (Mahler), Live Performance, 10 April, 1955, Carnegie Hall; Symphony #4 in f (Vaughan Williams), Live Performance, 5 April, 1953, Carnegie Hall; w. Dorothy Dow: Erwartung (Schönberg), Live Performance, 18 Nov., 1951, Carnegie Hall; w. Zino Francescatti: Symphonie Espagnole (Lalo), Live Performance, 3 April, 1955, Carnegie Hall; w. Pietro Scarpini: Piano Concerto #2 in g (Prokofiev), Live Performance, 7 Nov., 1954, Carnegie Hall; Mitropoulos (Pf.) & Cond. NBC S. O. : Piano Concerto #3 in C (Prokofiev); w. Carmine Coppola (Fl) & Mischa Mischakoff (Vln): Brandenburg Concerto #5 in D (Bach), both Live Performances, 16 Dec., 1945; Mitropoulos Cond. Strings of the NBC S. O., w. Astrid Varnay (S): String Quartet #2 in f-sharp (Schönberg), Live Performance, 13 Dec., 1945. (E. U.) 4-Music & Arts 1214. Transfers by Lani Spahr.

"...impeccably, splendidly remastered...I love these recordings and what they represent. And I want everyone I know and everyone I don't know to hear them." - Lloyd Schwartz, University of Massachusetts Boston, New York Arts online journal, for NPR.

Classical Music

Our focus with the CD 'Coronation' is not on blue blood or kingly power. In processes that are positively vegetal, the music on this CD sends up its shoots and produces blossoms like crowns. '(co)ro(na)', by Vykintas Baltakas, springs from a cascade of motivic branchings, its roots in a cycle of works named after the alchemical Ouroboros, a snake that swallows its own tail. Its 'dragon's blood', so the legends say, is cinnabar red - like the hue that shines in 'cinnabar' by Rebecca Saunders. Magnus Lindberg's 'Joy' expresses itself through its profligacy with spectral harmonies and the resonant snapping of the strings of a demolished piano. Iannis Xenakis creates sieves that proliferate until they transform into archaic dances, refulgent with the brass tones characteristic of so many musical moments: This is the sound that crowns the affair.

Michael Finnissy is amongst the most celebrated of contemporary British composers and his music is featured on many of our CDs. This selection of works for chamber group and solo instruments written between 1977 and 1990 displays both his formidable talents and those of Topologies. These pieces are inspired by the disappearing musical cultures in places affected by ethnic cleansing (Kurdestan and Azerbaijan) and "discredited" musical styles such as free jazz and expressionism.

Mozart's Piano Quartets K 478 and 493 with the wonderful German Gaede String Trio and the outstanding Austrian pianist Markus Schirmer: this is pure chamber music delight, highly sensitive and exciting, sensual and fresh as the dew, clever in it's formal and concertante calculation: here Mozart allows for both common obscurity and lively dialogue. (Tirol online)

Trombonist Mike Svoboda's Wergo release entitled Da Lontano (from a distance) surveys rarely heard works written by four heroes of new music that are 'outside' of the ordained list of masterworks by these composers. Each has an element of indeterminacy, which allows Svoboda to place a personal stamp on the performances. Scelsi said he received the music for his Mantram - Canto anonimo from other spheres, merely acting as an intermediary between two worlds. For Solo for Sliding Trombone, excerpted from Cage's Piano Concerto, Svoboda devised a version for eight trombones which he plays all by himself. Signal zur Invasion I is excerpted from Stockhausen's opera Dienstag aus Licht. It consists of 126 fanfares from the opera. In Nono's Post-prae-ludium per Donau, the sound of Svoboda's tuba is multiplied and rearranged by electronic musician Holger Stenschke to create a unique spatial polyphony.

You cross the Place de L'Alma, the city lights, the Paris bustle and enter the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées with those worldly, trivial conversations. You find your seat and the audience takes it's time quieting down. Evgeni Koroliov appears on the scene, gives a quick greeting and places his hands on the piano... And voilà, you are instantly transported to another world... (Le Figaro)

This disc from Tacet gives the listener a unique opportunity - that of hearing a master musician playing seven different instruments from 1640 - 1992 in the same piece. It is a fascinating exercise and proceeds thus: Amati (1640), Guadagnini (1771), A Guarneri (1671), P Guarneri (?), Horvath (1992), Stradivari (1683), Vuillaume (1870) - it can be seen that the important Cremonese makers are covered together with a fine French manufacturer and a modern Hungarian model. So, does it make a big difference? Well, yes & no - clearly the player makes the greatest difference between a good and bad sound but as the music & musician are constants here the differences are startling. One of the greatest contrasts is between the two Guarneri's (A is P's grandfather) with the more modern instrument sounding considerably richer. It is no surprise that the most rounded sound comes from Gawriloff's usual" instrument (and this spoils the experiment a little) - the Strad! Also, the thinnest sound comes from the Horvath but this isn't far behind the older Guarneri & I'm sure given a bit more time to mellow will be a fantastic instrument to play & hear! If you are concerned that hearing the same piece 6 times (Bach's Sarabande from the D-minor partita) is boring, well it isn't here. Gawriloff then treats us to a nice mini-recital on, presumably, his favourite 5 with each piece being chosen to suit the instrument (or was it vice versa?) Either way, the performances are good without being exceptional, although this is largely a reflection that the music chosen isn't absolutely first rank. The younger Guarneri is given a sonata by Veracini, the elder is given Kreisler's Variations on a theme of Tartini. We are then treated to a beautiful rendition of Dvorak's Romantic Pieces on the Stradivari, followed by Paganini's Cantabile on the Amati. Finally & the choice here is wonderful, the Horvath in Webern's Four Pieces Op.7 where the slightly wirey timbre suits the sparse textures. In the mini-recital, Gawriloff is ably partnered by Kira Ratner who is competent but not inspiring. The sound is, unusally for Tacet, completely straight and well balanced with a nice distance between us and the musicians so that there is some accoustic presence but not overly so. My slight gripe is that the playing time is under 53 minutes, so there would have been ample opportunity to demonstrate the Guadagnini & Vuillame in more substantial repertoire." John Broggio Total playing time: 52'40

Here Joseph Haydn's music is revealed as the perfect expression of truth. And the Auryn's performance of his string quartets is exactly as it should be: vigorous, beautiful to listen to, and full of feeling. A rediscovery both of sheer beauty and intellectual development.'

Composer: Joseph Haydn (1732 - 1809)

Performers:
Matthias Lingenfelder, violin
Jens Oppermann, violin
Stewart Eaton, viola
Andreas Arndt, violoncello


Track Listing:
Disc One:
String quartet op. 20 no. 1, Hob. III:31 in E flat major
1. Allegro moderato
2. Menuet. Un poco allegretto
3. Affettuoso e sostenuto
4. Finale. Presto
String quartet op. 20 no. 2, Hob. III:32 in C major
5. Moderato
6. Capriccio. Adagio
7. Menuet. Allegretto
8. Fuga a quattro soggetti. Allegro
String quartet op. 20 no. 4, Hob. III:34 in D major
9. Allegro di molto
10. Un poco adagio e affettuoso
11. Menuet alla Zingarese. Allegretto
12. Presto e scherzando

Disc Two:
String quartet op. 20 no. 3, Hob. III:33 in G minor
1. Allegro con spirito
2. Menuet. Allegretto
3. Poco adagio
4. Finale. Allegro di molto
String quartet op. 20 no. 6, Hob. III:36 in A major
5. Allegro di molto e scherzando
6. Adagio
7. Menuet
8. Fuga con tre soggetti. Allegro
String quartet op. 20 no. 5, Hob. III:35 in F minor
9. Moderato
10. Menuet
11. Adagio
12. Finale. Fuga a due soggetti

Timing: 153:49

Here Joseph Haydn's music is revealed as the perfect expression of truth. And the Auryn's performance of his string quartets is exactly as it should be: vigorous, beautiful to listen to, and full of feeling. A rediscovery both of sheer beauty and intellectual development.'

Composer: Joseph Haydn (1732 - 1809)

Performers:
Matthias Lingenfelder, violin
Jens Oppermann, violin
Stewart Eaton, viola
Andreas Arndt, violoncello


Track Listing:
1. String quartet op. 33 No. 5, Hoboken III: 41 in G major: Vivace assai
2. String quartet op. 33 No. 5, Hoboken III: 41 in G major:Largo e cantabile
3. String quartet op. 33 No. 5, Hoboken III: 41 in G major:Scherzo. Allegro
4. String quartet op. 33 No. 5, Hoboken III: 41 in G major:Finale. Allegretto
5. String quartet op. 33 No. 2, Hoboken III:38 in E flat major: Allegro moderato
6. String quartet op. 33 No. 2, Hoboken III:38 in E flat major: Scherzo. Allegro
7. String quartet op. 33 No. 2, Hoboken III:38 in E flat major: Largo e sostenuto
8. String quartet op. 33 No. 2, Hoboken III:38 in E flat major: Finale. Presto
9. String quartet op. 33 No. 1, Hoboken III:37 in B minor: Allegro moderato
10. String quartet op. 33 No. 1, Hoboken III:37 in B minor: Scherzo. Allegro di molto
11. String quartet op. 33 No. 1, Hoboken III:37 in B minor: Andante
12. String quartet op. 33 No. 1, Hoboken III:37 in B minor: Finale. Presto
13. String quartet op. 33 No. 3, Hoboken III:39 in C major: Allegro moderato
14. String quartet op. 33 No. 3, Hoboken III:39 in C major: Scherzo. Allegretto
15. String quartet op. 33 No. 3, Hoboken III:39 in C major: Adagio ma non troppo
16. String quartet op. 33 No. 3, Hoboken III:39 in C major: (Finale) Rondo. Presto
17. String quartet op. 33 No. 6, Hoboken III:42 in D major: Vivace assai
18. String quartet op. 33 No. 6, Hoboken III:42 in D major: Andante
19. String quartet op. 33 No. 6, Hoboken III:42 in D major: Scherzo. Allegretto
20. String quartet op. 33 No. 6, Hoboken III:42 in D major: Finale. Allegretto
21. String quartet op. 33 No. 4, Hoboken III:40 in B flat major: Allegro moderato
22. String quartet op. 33 No. 4, Hoboken III:40 in B flat major: Scherzo. Allegretto
23. String quartet op. 33 No. 4, Hoboken III:40 in B flat major: Largo
24. String quartet op. 33 No. 4, Hoboken III:40 in B flat major: (Finale). Presto

Timing: 122:32

This recording is in the DVD Audio format and will only play on hardware specifically compatible with the DVD Audio format. Standard CD players will not play this CD.

Visions, the new release from the British-German violinist Caroline Adomeit and wonderful Ukranian pianist Nadiya Kholodkova, is inspired by the fantastic piano repertoire. Transcriptions, including eleven world premieres by Caroline herself, of works from the early harpsichord music of the Baroque era, through Classical and Romantic pieces, to Impressionism and music of the twentieth century (from Henry Purcell’s Hornpipe to Sergei Rachmaninov’s Italian Polka) show her complete mastery of the violin and her ability to produce an entire artist’s palette of colors. “…her playing has an infectious joy and rhythmic vitality… passages of crossed strings are so precise, and even in the most mercurial sections her intonation is perfectly centered…” (The Strad)

The incubation period is a mere thirty seconds: that is how long the symphonic first spark takes to ignite, with the four musicians dragging the child empress out of silence at the beginning of the first Razumovsky Quartet and again and again projecting their Auryn sparkle into us. And once again we are hooked. (Wiesbadener Anzeiger) There is no shortage of great and famous Beethoven Cycles, but there are no performances such as these. For me, this is now the set to beat. (Laurence Vittes)