Mozart: Divertimenti, K. 252 and 287

According to Greek mythology, Zefiro was the tender and kind God of the Western Wind. In 1989, the oboists Alfredo Bernardini and Paolo Grazzi, and the bassoonist Alberto Grazzi, members of the most outstanding baroque orchestras, founded Zefiro, a versatile music group specialising in the eighteenth-century repertoire that gives particular prominence to wind instruments. Since then, Zefiro has performed at many major worldwide festivals and recorded 20 Cds, including the complete works for wind ensemble of W. A. Mozart, all virtuosic sonatas of J.D. Zelenka (Astrée), and three instalments of the distinguished Vivaldi Edition on Naïve. After a long-term collaboration with Sony Classical/Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, this new Vivaldi recording marks the beginning of an exclusive partnership of the Italian ensemble with Arcana, which will result in a true Zefiro series, characterised by its own artwork, focused on new releases but whose task will also be to make their discography still available. Antonio Vivaldi was (and has remained) the most productive composer of concertos for solo bassoon. Thirty-nine concertos for solo bassoon, strings and basso continuo by him have survived. As a group, they are noteworthy for their high musical quality, their stylistic maturity and their depth of feeling, a property shared with Vivaldi's concertos for the cello. Vivaldi shows perfect understanding of the mercurial temperament of the instrument, which is able in an instant to move from the comic to the tragic, from the melancholy to the joyful. An active player on the early music scene for the last 25 years, Alberto Grazzi is presenting here seven concertos from the enormous corpus of the Venetian composer. This selection, with 4 concertos in major and 3 in minor keys, represents Alberto Grazzi's personal choice in showing the expressive qualities of the bassoon in Vivaldi's world. This work is the result of a Alberto Grazzi's long-term practise as a baroque player, here magnificently supported by the Ensemble Zefiro.

The year 2012 marks the Wergo label's 50th anniversary. For half a century, Wergo has been synonymous with contemporary music. The label's catalog reads like a virtual who's-who of modern music, both in terms of composers and performers. From the beginning, the intent of founder Werner Goldschmidt (from whom the label derives it's name) was to provide listeners with a snapshot of current musical activity and innovation. Goldschmidt's label and mission, now managed by the publisher Schott, is maintained to this day by a dedicated staff that is constantly striving to bring the best new music to the attention of the world. This specially-priced commemorative set features five discs, with one from each from the label's five rich decades. Featured composers include Cage, Nono, Schnebel Stockhausen and Stravinsky.

Venice, July 1603: Giovanni Croce, known as ‘il Chiozzotto’, a priest at the church of Santa Maria Formosa, was appointed maestro di cappella of St Mark’s basilica, one of the most prestigious posts in the musical world of the time. A controversial biography, many aspects of which have not yet been elucidated, and a musical output of excellent quality constitute the appeal of this composer born in Chioggia, who is still overshadowed today by his famous successors. Yet Giovanni Croce proves to be an extraordinary figure, halfway between the conservative Venetian school of Gioseffo Zarlino and the modernism of Claudio Monteverdi. He makes masterly use of double chorus and of such special devices as echo effects, while maintaining a fine transparency in his counterpoint that links him with classical polyphony. Two exceptional young Swiss ensembles, the vocal group Voces Suaves (which has won several prizes for its first two recordings) and the instrumental ensemble Concerto Scirocco, combine here in the magnificent surroundings of the palatine basilica of Santa Barbara in Mantua, where they have the advantage of the outstanding Antegnati organ built in 1565, to honour Giovanni Croce and his contemporaries and introduce us to other aspects of the glorious musical activity at St Mark’s.

Works for solo flute by some of the most respected British composers of the present day - performed with consummate skill on a variety of instruments by the virtuoso flautist Nancy Ruffer, who has been at the forefront of contemporary flute interpretation, giving numerous first performances - including the UK premiere of Ferneyhough's Superscriptio at the Queen Elizabeth Hall - and commissioning new works from composers such as Chris Dench, Michael Finnissy and others.

Eben: Okna - Starer: 3 Preludes - Hamlin: Sonata ben melodic

In a time where Mozart performances are dominated by an obsession with repeats, metronomic exactitude, precision of ensemble, and an approach that often combines slickness with impersonality, Casals might seem to have been a cellist forced to retire because of consistently faulty intonation and wavering technical control and who therefore turned exclusively to conducting when in his nineties (as he was when these recordings were made). He felt that if anyone wanted to hear what an eighteenth-century orchestra sounded like, the musicians need only play off-key—although he himself has been latterly criticized for occasionally ragged ensemble. Yet, for me, Casals was first and always a transcendent musician who loved music, who brought to Mozart the profound wealth of his own human experience, musical insight based on decades of visceral study, and a rare ability to communicate the richness and excitement he felt so deeply. His orchestra was totally responsive and committed. And what an orchestra!—with Jaime Laredo as concertmaster and Sergiu Luca as principal second in the "Haffner." Ever present is the shared joy of making music together. Casals's Mozart was, in the words of the producer of these recordings, Thomas Frost, "a fresh look at old masterpeices, unhampered by current trends, with a crisp spontaneity undulled by the routine of repeat performances." Casals's vision of Mozait exists outside the frenzies of fashion, an essential Mozart lyrical, compelling, transporting, with shadings in the darker passages mat intimate a depth which only music can express. There is here a reverence for these symphonies so often veiled from us today by scholarship which substitutes "authenticity" for inspiration, accuracy for conviction, exactitude for beauty, superficially impressive dynamics for an intense exuberance of the soul. As much as great interpreters of Mozart have given us, these performances provide this music with yet another dimension and one without which I shall never wish to be.

Jon Tuska, Fanfare [3/1992]

Italian composer and guitarist Angelo Gilardino has been at the forefront of contemporary classical guitar music for over 40 years. His legacy is fittingly recognized by Cristiano Porqueddu, himself already firmly established as one of Italy's leading guitarists, who pays tribute to the composer with this integral release of Gilardino's works. Recorded in chronological order, starting with compositions from the mid 1960s and ending with works written just a few years ago, Porqueddu delves in to the astonishing variety of music Gilardino has produced. From the 'dreamy' works of his early period - including Estrellas para Estarellas, Abreuana and Trepidazione per Thebit - a more formal style began to take hold from the 1980s, with the composer writing his first series of 12 studies (Studi di virtuosit� e di trascendenza) in 1981. He followed up this success by adding another 48 to the collection, and since the 2000s the 60 Studies have become a central part of Gilardino's oeuvre, having entered the concert programs of several prominent guitarists. Constantly striving to create a new type of dialogue between the guitar and accompanying instruments, Gilardino composed his first concerto for guitar and orchestra in 1996, sealing his reputation as an accomplished orchestral composer with an additional 16 concertos thereafter. During the 2000s, Gilardino returned to writing for the solo guitar, skillfully bridging the divide between atonal chromatic and diatonic modal music. Gilardino's compositions are inspired by music from all areas and epochs; from Mozart, Ravel and Messiaen to Scottish folk tunes and the beauty of the Mediterranean, there are few elements that are not represented in some shape or form in the composer's works. Porqueddu studied under Gilardino at the 'Lorenzo Perosi' Academy in Biella, and under the composer's guidance his compositions have won him international plaudits in his own right. Angelo Gilardino is one of the most important guitar composers of the last half century. His unique style is a blend of the old and new, folk art and contemporary music, from Mozart to Messiaen, all his works are illuminated by a warm and Mediterranean glow, a feeling of humanity and love for life. Included are all the works he wrote for guitar solo & guitar and orchestra. Included are his famous 60 Trancendental Studies. The set includes many world premieres. No better advocate and interpreter could be wished than guitarist Cristiano Porqueddu, a lifelong pupil and friend of the composer, sharing the same musical passions. Recorded in Nuoro, Italy, in 2012-15. Includes world premiere recordings. Contains extensive notes written by the composer especially for this release.

The music of London-born William Wordsworth (1908–88) – a great-great-grandson of the poet’s brother Christopher – lies downstream from that of Vaughan Williams and Sibelius; like that of his contemporary Edmund Rubbra, Wordsworth’s music unfolds spontaneously, as a natural process, with a sense of grandeur perhaps enhanced by his move to the Scottish Highlands in 1961. Three of the four works recorded here display the sober dignity of the instinctive symphonist; the Variations on a Scottish Theme reveal a sly sense of humor behind the serious countenance. John Gibbons has conducted most of the major British orchestras. He has been Principal Conductor of Worthing Symphony Orchestra- the professional orchestra of West Sussex- with which he has given many world premieres of neglected works. He studied music at Queens’ College, Cambridge, the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music, winning numerous awards as conductor, pianist and accompanist. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, vice chairman of the British Music Society, and choral director at Clifton Cathedral. His own music has been performed in various abbeys and cathedrals as well as on the South Bank, London.

Four CD set. Few great conductors can be classified by just a few characteristics. Although this cautionary remark applies to Dimitri Mitropoulos, it seems safe to say that, among other things, he was renowned for performances of intensity and animation; his willingness, even eagerness, to explore unfamiliar repertory; and his photographic memory. Ample evidence of the first two characteristics can be heard in this collection of live performances, many previously unreleased, with the Philharmonic-Symphony and the NBC Symphony Orchestra in repertoire with which his career was closely associated. The two volumes include works by Busoni, to whose circle he had belonged as a student in Berlin, the Twelve-tone Viennese masters for whom he fought major cultural battles, Prokofiev, Richard Strauss, and Mahler, whose inner landscape he found congenial and helped popularize in his decades in America. Digital restorations in 2008 utilizing the revolutionary harmonic balancing technique.

First CD recording of Karlheinz Stockhausen's "Tierkreis" ("Zodiac") in the version for organ released by WERGO: Originally composed for music boxes, the work has been arranged for organ and recorded by the young organist Dominik Susteck at St. Peter in Cologne. The thirty-three-year-old, who has been organist at St. Peter for four years, realized this project not only at an unusual venue but also on an unusual instrument. Since the 1980s, this Catholic chappel combines the church with contemporary art: The "St. Peter's Art Station" has become not only a much sought-after venue for exhibitions of contemporary art but also a special venue for new music due to numerous concerts and services with 20th- and 21st-century music. In addition, the "St. Peter's Art Station" is provided with an instrument built by Willy Peter which was designed for contemporary music: The four-manual great organ and the three-manual choir organ currently have 104 stops, including such unusual sound additions as siren, saxophone, and percussion orchestra with cymbals, drums, or xylophone. The organ, inaugurated in 2004, is worldwide unique because of it's design and structure. Dominik Susteck describes his interpretation of Stockhausen's work as "frozen musical movement. The instrument no longer sounds like an organ but proves to be a colourful, agile and dynamic being".

The sound is exemplary in clarity, warmth, and balance. None of this is “great” music but committed Elgarians will relish the delicacy and sensibility of Elder’s performance.

Miniatures though they be, the two Wand of Youth suites are not just “light” music, in that there is much here which is – charming, yes, but also emotionally deeply evocative and musically profound. Their quality has attracted recordings from celebrated conductors such as Boult, Handley, Mackerras, Bryden Thomas and van Beinum, to name but a few; now Mark Elder includes them in his series of Elgar works with the Hallé, which has hitherto garnered much critical acclaim – my own favourite recordings of the symphonies are Elder’s.

These works were based on material written by Elgar many years before as a teenager as accompaniment to a play, reworked by the composer as a man of fifty while simultaneously composing his First Symphony - so they presumably provided some relief from that arduous task. They are characteristically innocent and nostalgic, evoking an idealised fairyland free from adult taint; both were dedicated to friends, as was Elgar’s custom, most famously in the Enigma Variations.

The variety of orchestral colour and melodic invention mark these suites out as typical of the composer; the Overture of the first suite starts with a bustling motif played with great brio followed by a falling Seventh –a motif very recognisably Elgarian. A gentle “Serenade”, an elegant parody of a Handelian minuet, a shimmering, Mendelssohnian “Sun Dance” ending in a blaze of brass encompass so many of the tropes we know from the more famous works while also paying homage to Elgar’s predecessors; while the string passage is all Elgar, if the sinuous clarinet motif at the heart of the “Fairy Pipers” isn’t at least unconsciously inspired by Tchaikovsky’s “Arabian Dance” from the Nutcracker, I have no ears.

The pattern of great thematic and colourific variety continues into the second suite, although I do not find it quite as uniformly captivating as the first. Elgar introduces a glockenspiel into the “The Little Bells”, employs graceful arabesques to suggest the flow of water in “Fountain Dance” and creates two contrasting bear portraits, the first melancholy, `the second rumbustious; Elder and the Hallé successfully capture all these moods.

The Nursery Suite was Elgar’s final foray into mining his juvenilia: it is more, lovely, pastoral music, including an extended solo for flute in The Serious Doll, played with assured, liquid musicality by Katherine Baker. Likewise, Lyn Fletcher plays a fine violin solo in the final movement, Envoy (Coda). The Wagon (Passes) was encored at its premiere at the request of the Duke and Duchess of York (the future King George VI and Queen Elizabeth). Dreaming has one of those long, languorous melodies we know from the symphonies.

Bonus “lollipops” are provided in the form of the lush, orchestrated versions of Salut d’amour and Chanson de nuit, both so delightfully sentimental and redolent of the Edwardian drawing room, beautifully played.

The sound is exemplary in clarity, warmth, and balance. None of this is “great” music but committed Elgarians will relish the delicacy and sensibility of Elder’s performance.

– MusicWeb International (Ralph Moore)

Classical Music

Paul Watkins, an exclusive Chandos artist, returns to his series of British works for cello and piano, playing sonatas by York Bowen, John Ireland and Sir Arnold Bax. He is accompanied by his brother, Huw Watkins. International Record Review wrote of volume one, “This is a marvelous release: for the intriguing music, the superb performances and the first-class sound.”

Bach’s The Art of Fugue offers us profoundly sensual music, magnificent, poetic, colorful, thrilling, meditative, temperamental, intended for the ears of all times and deeply human.” That’s how the quartett itself characterizes Bach’s masterpiece and opposes Stefano Pierini’s Cantai un tempo (dopo una lettura di Monteverdi) to the magnum opus which was especially composed for the delian::quartett. The namesake of the delian::quartett is the Greek god Apollo who was worshipped as god of the fine arts, the muses and especially music, and also named Delian after his place of birth, the island of Delos. “What is outstanding about this Quartet”, stated the Hessian Broadcasting Company in October 2008, “is, firstly, the absolutely vibrant, personal coloring of their interpretations and the ability to also spontaneously react with interest to what the public shows, to absorb their vibrations and energies and transform them into music. This makes every concert a unique experience.”

Although named in every history of music as an important composer and as one of the creators of the Italian madrigal, principally known for the madrigal Il bianco e dolce cigno and even more so by an incorrectly attributed Ave Maria that amateur choirs have been performing since the Romantic period, Jacques Arcadelt has not yet gained the position that he deserves in the musical world of today. He was in the service of the Medici, the papacy and the kings of France; he could hardly have had a more impressive career. The recording sessions for this set created a real emotional shock on several occasions: we were convinced that Jacques Arcadelt was a true genius and it was easy to understand why his contemporaries regarded him as truly exceptional.

Following a highly successful series 'Mendelssohn in Birmingham', the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra with their former Chief Conductor Edward Gardner here presents the first volume in a new surround-sound series: Schubert Symphonies. This first volume comprises of three symphonies spanning across Schubert's short productive composing life. His Symphony No. 3 (1815), with it's extensive and evolving slow introduction modelled on late Haydn is followed by the culminating distillation of Schubertian classicism that is his 'little' Symphony No. 5 (1816). Scored for chamber orchestra, it tells of much more of an influence of Mozart, for whom Schubert seemed to have felt a special affinity with around this time. Completing the album is Schubert's much more intense (with a turbulent first movement and serene second) Symphony No. 8 "unfinished" (1822), of which only the first two movements and a skeleton sketch of a third Scherzo movement were completed.

Jean-Efflam Bavouzet’s landmark series of Beethoven’s complete sonatas is now available as a complete set and at a very special price. Bavouzet has taken this programme to the most prestigious venues around the world and continues to perform it. Gramophone has nominated him several times for its Artist of the Year award, arguing that ‘Bavouzet’s chronological journey through the Beethoven sonatas has not been surpassed in the last 30 years. Yes, it’s that good.” Repackaged as a box of nine individual albums, and each including the original booklets with their usual personal ‘performer’s note,’ this is a must have.

Past praise of previously released sets that make up this complete edition:

Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Vol. 2

His lean, pinpointed sonority, rhythmic directness, freedom from mannerisms, and strong linear awareness convey both a strong sense of classical style and expressive economy. Bavouzet’s dynamic range is not particularly large, yet his subtle variety of articulations, thoughtful accentuation, and very discreet use of the sustain pedal give the playing a distinctive profile that recalls other intimate, Apollonian Beethoven stylists like Wilhelm Kempff, Walter Gieseking, and Robert Casadesus.

– ClassicsToday.com

Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Vol. 3

The meticulous workmanship and musical intelligence informing Jean-Efflam Bavouzet’s previous Beethoven cycle installment are equally apparent throughout this third and final volume. Many pianists would be happy to claim Bavouzet’s authority and mastery

– ClassicsToday.com

V1: LUCKER - 9/11 IN MEMORIAM

A film score is inextricably linked with the image, it is composed according to the wishes of the director; sometimes it becomes a separate sphere of art. The beauty of the intertwined, overlapped melodic lines spun from dreams and longings and the depth of the harmonic structures occasionally introduce the listener into an unreal, irrational world, a world of illusion, dreams... I couldn't resist them - Maksym Rzeminski

Classical Music

The Symphony No. 3, called the Symphony of Sorrowful Songs, for solo soprano and orchestra, Op. 36 by Henryk Mikolaj Górecki (1976) is often mentioned in different contexts as one of the most original masterpieces of 20th-century music not only to come out of Poland, but from the world. This release presents the listener with a live recording of this extraordinary piece performed in the concert hall of the Poznan Philharmonic on 4 February, 1995. It is an outstanding artistic creation of Andrzej Boreyko, a conductor who was just about to launch his world career then, and Ewa Izykowska – one of the most interesting and versatile Polish singers.

After exploring the evolution of Italian and French music in the seventeenth century, Jerôme Lejeune devotes a new volume in his History of Early Music to Germany. During this century in which the Lutheran musical tradition developed further, Germany lived through a particularly enthralling period, bringing the musical world a highly original language, but also assimilating Italian and French models with talent and imagination; all of this unquestionably prepared the way that leads to Johann Sebastian Bach. As in the other volumes of this collection, the recorded examples are selections taken from the works that are the most representative of their period. The Ricercar catalogue is particularly well-provided with examples of German music of the seventeenth century.

Classical Music

Includes work(s) by Jenö Hubay. Soloist: Charles Castleman.