A program of music for the viola da gamba spanning music of the Renaissance, Baroque and Classical eras. The viola da gamba was considered the most prestigious and regal of instruments for centuries before being supplanted by the more sonically lush and resonant violincello. Dietmar Berger, is a Cologne born and based cellist/viola da gambist, composer and arranger.

The great organist performs crockery-rattling renditions of works by Bach, Handel, Boyce, Mulet, Purcell, Schumann and Widor.

THE ROYAL EDITION - SCHUMANN:

This selection was nominated for the 2001 Grammy Award for "Best Choral Performance."
This selection was nominated for the 2002 Latin Grammy Award for "Best
Classical Album."

Experience the lush sound of the Dresden Piano Trio performing classic trios by composers Antonín Dvořák, Leoš Janáček, and Josef Suk. This recording evokes the passionate nature of the repertoire, creating a memorable musical journey for the listener.

The Dresden Piano Trio, comprised of Roglit Ishay, piano, Kai Vogler, violin and Peter Burns, violoncello, was founded following a cooperation between Kai Vogler and Roglit Ishay at the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont. The ensemble debuted in 1990 in the Chamber Music Hall of the Berlin Philharmonie. The trio has given many concerts throughout Germany and the rest of Europe. The repertoire includes all the major works for piano trio from the late Romantic era to the early 20th century.

The final volume in Wergo's acclaimed series of recordings, Earle Brown - a Life in Music, completes the label's reissue of the eighteen LPs of Earle Brown's legendary Contemporary Sound Series, recorded between 1960 and 1973. These rare and historically important recordings have been carefully digitized and remastered by the Earle Brown Music Foundation. The first disc in this set contains works by John Cage and Christian Wolff from the early 1960s. Disc two presents the outstanding violinist Paul Zukofsky, brilliantly accompanied by the pianist Gilbert Kalish, performing works by George Crumb, Isang Yun, Charles Wuorinen and John Cage. The final disc contains works by the South American composers Gerardo Gandini, Cesar Bolaos, Marlos Nobre, Oscar Bazín, Manuel Enriquez and Alcides Lanza, performed by the New Sound Composers-Performers Group under the direction of Alcides Lanza.

The Quartetto di Cremona have chosen for their fourth volume of the Beethoven complete string quartet cycle two works forming a portal within the quartet writing of this composer and Vienna transplant. Beethoven opened his Op. 18 set with the Quartet in F (1798/99), written at the behest of his patron and friend, Prince Lobkowicz. Even within the framework of the traditional form, Beethoven's first published quartet achieved a maximum of moods and stylistic variety. Beethoven's Quartet Op. 131 in c (1826), generally perceived as a peak within his chamber music, is entirely different, much more eccentric and "experimental". Seven sections of diverse tone and character are played without breaks in-between; a brooding fugue stands alongside a sensitive adagio, a folk tune presto is next to a restless finale. Internationally renowned for their "extremely mature and lyrical sound" (Strad), the Quartetto di Cremona grace the stages of the most prestigious venues. Their dedication to their craft is on consistent show through their music-making.

This third volume, five-disc set of early 1950s Amadeus Quartet high-quality radio recordings is dedicated to works of its eponym. These previously unreleased recordings from the archives of the RIAS feature eight of Mozart’s ten great string quartets, complemented by recordings of his four great string quintets with second violist Cecil Aronowitz. Also included is the recording of Mozart's clarinet quintet with Heinrich Geuser, one of the leading clarinetists of his time.

In the series ZKM milestones, Ferrari's radio play "JETZT" is presented unabridged on CD for the first time. The accompanying CD of materials includes audio documents that shed light on his artistic work in very different ways: The excerpts from a lecture by Luc Ferrari on his view of the radio play constitute a presentation resembling a radio play. "Ferrari (r)écouté", a competition organized by the ZKM in cooperation with hr2-kultur, presents new works based on the "JETZT" materials by Tiziana Bertoncini, Antje Vo-winckel, Frank Niehusmann, David Fenech, and Neele Hülcker. Luc Ferrari / Brunhild Ferrari / Vivant Quartet de Narbonne (Richard Breton: guitar, Jules Calmettes: flute and saxophone, Henry Fourès: piano and composer, Alain Joule: percussion).

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

The 18 LPs of Earle Brown's legendary Contemporary Sound Series, now re-released by WERGO on CD (six 3-CD sets), have become a rarity in great demand. 'Earle Brown - A Life in Music - Vol. 4' is the most recent CD set in this unique series presented by WERGO. CD 1 contains three stylistically quite different string quartets by Pierre Boulez, Giacinto Scelsi and Earle Brown himself, performed by the ensembles Quatuor Parrenin, Hamann Quartet, Quartetto di Nuova Musica, and the New York String Quartet. CD 2 focuses on works for chamber orchestra by Iannis Xenakis, Aldo Clementi, Bo Nilsson, Wlodzimierz Kotonski, and Yuji Takahashi; apart from them, the first recording of Arnold Schoenberg's 'Drei Stücke' ('Three Pieces') is outstanding as well. The works were performed by the International Kranichsteiner Kammerensemble under the direction of Bruno Maderna, the Hamburger Kammersolisten under the direction of Francis Travis, as well as the exceptional violinist Paul Zukofsky. CD 3 presents four works premiered by the Hamburger Kammersolisten: 'Études contrapuntiques' by Milko Kelemen, 'Tropi' by Niccolò Castiglioni, 'Serenata' by Vittorio Fellegara, and 'Musik für sieben Instrumente' ('Music for Seven Instruments' by Isang Yun.

Classical Music

A special and splendid collection of the piano music of Stefan Wolpe played to perfection by the leading living interpreter of his keyboard music.

This excellent series of music by Stefan Wolpe, whose life spanned the first three quarters of the last century, continues both to perplex and to delight. To perplex because the musical character of German exile to Palestine Wolpe was so complex, enigmatic and diverse. To delight because of the very high quality both of that intriguing music and its playing.
 
Indeed, David Holzman's first CD in the series (BRIDGE 9116) in 2003 was nominated for 'Best Solo Instrumental Performance' in that year's Grammys and did in fact go on to win AFIM's INDIE award as 'Best Classical CD'. The current recital has all the vigour, perception and delicacy of his earlier success. The music played here was written between 1926 - before Wolpe and Irma Schoenberg (1902-1984) emigrated to Palestine, in 1934 - and 1959 only just over a decade before his death.
 
Particularly noteworthy is the first complete recording of Wolpe's huge Four Studies on Basic Rows (1935-36). It occupies almost half this CD and includes the composer's most frequently-recorded piano piece, the 'Passacaglia' [tr.4], which is in turn the longest single movement here at getting on for a quarter of an hour.
 
Music representing Wolpe's time in Germany, Palestine and America is included. It varies in complexity and scope from the experimental to music written for his students. So you're getting a mixture, a taster, of Wolpe's output for the instrument. You're also getting it played by undeniably the greatest interpreter of Wolpe's keyboard music alive today.
 
In his essay for the CD's liner notes, Holzman describes how he has come to know Wolpe so intimately that he can detect the composer's most minutely expressed moods and feelings in his music. Although this is evident from Holzman's control of tempi, phrasing and timbral nuance, the pianist is never permissive to the exclusion of the true musical essence which he's gently intent on conveying. It's insight and interpretation first, and any hint of special understanding second. The playing of the 'Passacaglia', for instance, is approached with great confidence and all the necessary familiarity; Holzman unshowily brings to the performance his ability to anticipate and to pace the music yet is as fresh and full of surprises as can be.
 
Holzman reveals and commends the depth and breadth as well as the engaging beauty of these works: Wolpe's fascination with the colours (literally) of intervals was never mechanical, forced or self-indulgently indecisive. Holzman quietly and effectively communicates with great conviction and confidence the gentle and at times understated loveliness in music whose titles sound as though they were mere exercises. They're not. Their range and originality are impossible to miss thanks to Holzman's perception and dedication.
 
His playing is alert and alive. It continually presents new delights. Listen to the juxtaposition of the 'Pastorale' then 'Con fuoco' of the Two Pieces for Piano from 1941 [trs. 9, 10]. It's not that they could be by different composers (Berg then Webern perhaps); nor that the same composer is as versatile as he clearly is. The playing succeeds because it's conversant with the wealth of resources on which Wolpe draws at any one time. These include moods, light, invention, ties to other formats, references and original topoi in which Wolpe is so evidently at home. As a result, what does emerge in contrasts and parallels somehow has its own logic.
 
Technically Holzman is flawless. The piano is recorded nicely forward yet with enough space to allow full air to the many timbres and palettes it's required to evoke. The notes, which are nicely informative - especially for someone new to Wolpe's world - explain the somewhat relaxed circumstances under which this recital was prepared and executed. Indeed, there's a spontaneity and lack of deliberateness to the playing, to the order in which the pieces are heard and consequently to the listener's overall delight in this slice of a very intriguing composer. But this is a freedom which not for a minute even hints at sacrificing the rigour necessary for music as demanding as this. The result: an hour and a quarter's sheer enjoyment and inspiration.
 
This sixth volume in Bridge's series fulfils the promise of the others released so far. It's a great introduction to Wolpe's piano music for those unfamiliar with it. Since most of the pieces here presented are not available elsewhere, Holzman's recital will also satisfy collectors of Wolpe. Don't hesitate.
 
-- Mark Sealey, MusicWeb International

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Christian Forshaw studied at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London with John Harle. He graduated in 1995 and began an immensely varied career working in many different genres. As a soloist Christian has performed with ensembles including the London Sinfonietta, English National Opera, Scottish Ensemble, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic's Ensemble 10/10 and the Brno Philharmonic. He also works regularly with many smaller ensembles including Notes Inégales, Icebreaker, the Composers Ensemble and Endymion. Christian's debut CD Sanctuary is the exploration of an ecclesiastical sound-world. The project juxtaposes saxophone with voices, church organ and percussion. Sanctuary achieved unprecedented success for a release on an independent label, and consequently Forshaw was offered a deal with Sony BMG which he turned down in favour of setting up his own label, Integra Records UK. His second album, Renouncement was released on Integra in April 2007 Since 2002 Christian has been Professor of Saxophone at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama where he leads an enthusiastic group of young professionals. Stephen De Pledge studied in New Zealand and at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, with Joan Havill. His career was launched after winning the Gold Medal from the Guildhall, and the NFMS Young Concert Artists' Award, and he has since maintained a diverse and wide-ranging performing schedule, as soloist, chamber musician and song accompanist. His solo performances have taken him throughout the UK, including five solo recitals in the Wigmore Hall in London, where he made his acclaimed debut in 1999. He has also given solo performances in Hong Kong, Italy, France, Singapore, Japan, Australia and the USA. Concerto appearances include the Philharmonia and Bournemouth Symphony Orchestras, and performances in the Barbican and Fairfield Halls. As a chamber musician, Stephen has collaborated with groups such as the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet, the English Chamber Orchestra Ensemble, Chamber Domaine and the Scottish Ensemble. His repertoire is far-reaching, from the music of the 17th to the 21st centuries. He has always been an advocate for contemporary music, and has given the world premiere performances of many works. He has become particularly associated with the music of Messiaen, which he studied in Paris with the composer's widow, Yvonne Loriod.

Includes partita(s) by Johann Sebastian Bach. Soloists: Susan Rotholz, Kenneth Cooper.
Includes son(s) for fl and bc by Johann Sebastian Bach. Soloists: Susan Rotholz, Kenneth Cooper.

St. Augustine advised his coevals to seek the truth in the "inner man." Such inwardness seems far removed from the reality of life in the twenty-first century. Perhaps that is why a tendency to focus on internal processes has emerged in the music of the last few decades-not in the sense of a new subjectivity, in which sentimental private matters are put on display, but rather in the sense of an exploratory introspection: It's a question of increasing the intensity. Mark Andre seeks existential sonic situations on his path "toward the inside" (nach innen, to quote the fully written-out title of his piece "ni"). Like Andre, the Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho has also delved into the internal nature of sound. Her music originates in the rich variety of spectral harmonies, and it sets itself the task of telling a very old story in a new way: a violin concerto as the legend of the grail. An entirely different aspect of inner life manifests itself in Ian Willcock's piece. He visits the discoverer of the unconscious, Sigmund Freud, on his deathbed. At the start of the twentieth century, Freud's glimpses of the "inside" showed that there is more to be found there than the truth: the phantasm.

Peter von Winter's chamber music for wind was written under the influence of Beethoven's septets. But this is also thoroughly European music, with echoes of Italy and Bohemia providing both variety and a degree of technical invention that is here superbly realized by the Consortium Classicum.

On October 22, 2011, the musical world will celebrate the 200th birthday of Franz Liszt. Garrick Ohlsson, one of the great piano virtuosi of the current era, contributes to the celebration with recordings of two of Liszt's towering achievements: the infrequently recorded Busoni transcription of Liszt's organ piece, 'Fantasie und Fuge über den choral Ad nos, ad Salutarem Undam", (To us, to the healing waters, come again) S. 259 and, the most beloved of all of Liszt's piano compositions, the Sonata in B Minor, S. 178. Those who revel in great pianism need look no further than this spectacular program.

Classical Music

 

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Three brothers named Zapico -- Aarón, Pablo, and Daniel -- are part of the early music group Forma Antiqua (or, Antiqva); they appear here by themselves in a program of "Iberian-Italian" Baroque dance music, a genre whose influence stretched as far north as mid-Germany. The listener who samples this disc and wonders whether Baroque keyboard pieces ever actually had this much oomph can be assured that the recording falls purely into the not-even-speculative realm of using musical scores purely as a stimulus for further creative activity; keyboard music was something of a realm unto itself in the 17th century, and the booming guitar-and-theorbo arrangements heard here are purely the invention of the players. Indeed, they offer no justification other than that of wanting to play the music together. This said, the disc has the considerable virtue of reminding the listener that all of the patterns -- the fandangos, ciaccona, giga, folía, and so on heard here -- that made their way into Baroque music as ground basses were originally dances. The accompaniments devised by the Zapicos perhaps go beyond the intensity Baroque audiences would have recognized as appropriate (or perhaps they don't). But they're a great deal of fun, and they go together with the exciting group of releases that's defining the secular repertory exemplified by such composers as Santiago de Murcia, a repertory whose echoes have come down to the present day in both old and new worlds. Not "authentic," but if you don't tap your feet to a piece like Murcia's Folías gallegas (track 12), you'd better check for a pulse. - James Manheim (AllMusic.com)