"These works are like rare stones. You have to find them but once found they shine brilliantly." - Joanna Kurkowicz

This is Volume 2 in Chandos’ series devoted to the published violin concertos of Grazyna Bacewicz who was regarded by Witold Lutoslawski as ‘a distinguished Polish composer of the twentieth century and one of the foremost women composers of all time’. Bridging the gap between the neo-romanticism of Karol Szymanowski and the modernism of Witold Lutoslawski, she deserves much wider recognition than she has received to date outside her native Poland.

These performances by the BBC Philharmonic conducted by Rumon Gamba, who have many a cinematic credit to their name, carry the conviction of an original soundtrack recording in state-of-the-art sound.

– Gramophone

The story of how Miklós Rózsa left his native Hungary and brought his talents as a composer of film music to the West is well known. He went first to London and then to California, when the outbreak of war necessitated moving Jungle Book lock, stock and barrel to Hollywood. Though there have been some fine recordings of his more ‘serious’ music - Chandos themselves have made three of them - it’s for his film music that he will be most remembered.

The BBC Philharmonic and Rumon Gamba were the performers on those three earlier Chandos recordings. This orchestra and conductor also has a long-established history of fine recordings of film music for the label, so it’s only fitting that they should be chosen for this new project.

For all that I enjoyed the earlier albums, I shall be very surprised if this recording of the film music doesn’t outsell all three of them put together. It certainly deserves to be very successful. At least two of the films are all-time classics and I greatly enjoyed this evocation of The Thief of Baghdad and Ben-Hur. In case the music doesn’t quite do the trick for you, there are still photos in the booklet. I don’t think I ever saw Sahara and I’d forgotten Hugh Griffith’s part in Ben-Hur until I saw the photo, though I certainly remember his hell-raising Falstaff on, and reputedly off stage, at Stratford in the early 1960s.

It may seem odd to spend more time on the booklet than the performances but I found the notes most enlightening while I can be short and sweet concerning the performances and say that, short of someone brushing up the original film scores in modern digital sound, they are unlikely ever to be bettered. Rumon Gamba and his team capture the tender aspects of the music just as well as its more dramatic moments.

The recording, to which I listened in CD-quality 16-bit sound, is very good indeed. It captures the colourful nature of the music without ever being over the top or as brightly lit as the composer’s own Phase 4 recordings. Movements such as the Parade of the Chariots, however, which concludes the album on track 24, are suitably Technicolor, though you may well find that you need to turn up the volume to hear the recording at its best.

Try some of Gamba’s other film music recordings for Chandos, too. The original music for Scott of the Antarctic is one of my favorites - it makes a fascinating comparison with the Sinfonia Antartica into which Vaughan Williams later shaped most of the material.

The chief rival to this new recording comes from Australian Decca (Eloquence 4803790, 2 CDs at budget price: A Bargain of the Month with Rózsa himself in the late 1970s conducting the music for Ben Hur and Quo Vadis and Bernard Herrmann the music for Julius Cæsar. Dutton have also given us a 2-CD release of the two composer-conducted recordings, originally made in Phase 4 (CDLK4332). The Ben-Hur suite, which forms the climax of the new recording stands up against even that competition. While the album is not qualified with a ‘Volume 1’ addition, I do hope that Chandos will give us the BBC Philharmonic and Rumon Gamba in the Quo Vadis music, too, as a sequel.

– Brian Wilson, MusicWeb International

'the performances are of outstanding imaginativeness and sympathy, the solo playing of great refinement, the atmosphere of each piece marvellously caught?A most distinguished achievement.' Gramophone 'With readings as affectionate and illuminating as these, Bax's music can rarely have been better communicated.' Hi-Fi News and Record Review Recorded in: St Jude on the Hill, Hampstead, London 23-25 June 1991 (A Legend) Recorded in: Ulster Hall, Belfast 25-27 March 1986 (On the Sea Shore) and 10-12 February 1985 (other works) Producer(s) Tim Oldham (A Legend) Brian Couzens (other works) Sound Engineer(s) Richard Lee (A Legend) Ralph Couzens (other works) Peter Sheldon (Assistant: A Legend) Philip Couzens (Assistant: other works)

Classical Music

[The Violin Concerto's] last five minutes [are] a most moving elegy which Lydia Mordkovitch plays very beautifully on this excellent new recording. . . . [If] you can surrender to its rhapsodic musings and gusts of passion and forget its obvious debt to Elgar and Delius, then this is as good a performance as you could wish, recorded with the clarity and fidelity that are the hallmark of Chandos recordings. The Ulster Orchestra plays superbly, so that Moeran's attractive and colourful scoring gets its full due; and, of course, Vernon Handley is a sympathetic interpreter. -- Gramophone

Chandos features a varied selection of orchestral works by Benjamin Britten, performed by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra under Richard Hickox, to mark the great composer's centenary year on this re-release. Included works are the Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, Suite on English Folk Tunes, the Suite from Johnson over Jordan, and Four Sea Interludes.

Tempesta di Mare, Philadelphia Baroque Orchestra, performs baroque music on baroque instruments with what the Philadelphia City Paper describes as ‘zest and virtuosity that transcends style and instrumentation’. Under its directors, Gwyn Roberts and Richard Stone, and concertmaster, Emlyn Ngai, the ensemble performs a repertoire ranging from staged opera with full orchestra to chamber music. The group performs without a conductor, as was the practice when this music was new. Tempesta di Mare has been recording exclusively for Chandos since 2004, to worldwide popular and critical acclaim. - Chandos

The third and concluding volume in our series of orchestral works by Bach contemporary Johann Friedrich Fasch includes more premiere recordings of orchestral works and his lute and recorder concertos. - Tempesta di Mare, Philadelphia Baroque Orchestra

This selection is a Super Audio CD, which is designed for use only on Super Audio CD players. It is also available in standard CD format.
Includes traditional work(s). Ensemble: I Musici de Montreal. Conductor: Yuli Turovsky.

Classical Music

The celebrated Contemporaries of Mozart series continues apace with the compositions of German composer George Joseph Vogler. The London Mozart Players which celebrates their 60th anniversary in 2009 perform under the direction of Matthias Bamert. Also known as Abbé Vogler, Vogler was idealized in Robert Browning's poem 'Abt Vogler', with its subtitle 'After he has been extemporizing upon the musical instrument of his invention.' In his own day, Vogler was indeed famous for his improvisations. He was also a celebrated teacher, whose pupils included Weber and Meyerbeer; but he seems to have had little renown as a composer, that is, until now. Vogler was born near Würzburg in 1749, the son of a violinist and instrument maker. After studying at Würzburg University, he moved to Bamberg for three years of religious instruction: hence the references to Abbé. In the early 1770s he was appointed almoner, then chaplain, to the court at Mannheim. By 1775 he was appointed the vice-Kapellmeister. Mannheim was the home of a flourishing musical establishment, and the court orchestra had an international reputation: Vogler's colleagues included Christian Cannabich. He would later hold the position of court music director at Stockholm (1786-89) and at Darmstadt (1807-14). The scope of Vogler's musical accomplishment, encompassing sacred vocal works, operas, instrumental ensemble pieces and solo keyboard music, challenges generalization. The surviving symphonies and concertos by Vogler reveal polished craftsmanship and a flair for orchestral colour. He was fond of highlighting wind instruments, and the use of two pairs of horns in complementary keys is a trademark. All the works which here receive their first recording reflect this approach. Although relatively few of Vogler's works achieved wide public recognition, various works were performed in concerts well into the 19th century, and Robert Schumann praised Vogler's music as late as 1838. Recent Contemporaries of Mozart releases: CHAN 10379: Christian Cannabich CHAN 10496 Leopold Mozart CHAN 10458 John Marsh

Recorded in: All Saints' Church, East Finchley, London 16-18 October 2000 Producer(s) Nicholas Anderson Sound Engineer(s) Jonathan Cooper Christopher Brooke (Assistant)

The Beauty Stone is a neglected gem among the works of Arthur Sullivan, better known for his famous collaboration with W.S Gilbert. In this premiere commercial recording, featuring some of the finest singers on the stage today, all original music has been restored. This release follows Chandos’ highly regarded recording of Ivanhoe.

Two caveats for prospective customers: One is that Earl Wild makes the once-standard "traditional" cuts in the finale of the Third Concerto; second is that these classic 1965 performances also are available on the Chesky label in less brilliant but more naturally equalized transfers, albeit spread across three full-priced discs. Chandos, however, offers the better bargain. More importantly, Wild is in dazzling form throughout. You'll rarely hear the First and Fourth Concertos sparkle with equal panache and rhythmic acuity, while the pianist's fusion of poetry and flair add up to a Paganini Rhapsody that leaves just about all stereo versions behind. Jascha Horenstein's incisive, colorful support is a major asset, and the Royal Philharmonic plays beautifully for him. If you don't mind the Third Concerto cuts (or already have Martha Argerich's landmark third), these classic performances only get better with age, and the sonics are still terrific. Go for it, piano fans! --Jed Distler

Johan Halvorsen spent most of his career writing for the theater, which is probably why his music sounds so effortless, colorful, and well, efficient. This isn't meant to be disparaging. Rather, all of these pieces get right to the point, and none outstays its welcome, not even the Second Symphony, which clocks in at a bit under half an hour. It's conservative, harmonically and formally, but the music really works--it's a pleasure from beginning to end, and wholly convincing. This performance also is the first to correct the zillion errors in the printed score that have gone a long way to preventing the work from entering the repertoire, where it surely belongs.

The other pieces are all, in one way or another, ostensibly Norwegian in sound in a manner quite similar to Grieg. Again, there's nothing wrong with that. What sane person dislikes Grieg? The Suite ancienne, to the memory of Holberg, has every bit as much charm and freshness as Grieg's Holberg Suite, while the other three pieces all feature solo violin. Marianne Thorsen plays splendidly, while Neeme Järvi leads his Bergen forces in performances that are graceful, vibrant, and in the Suite and the Symphony, the last word in impetuosity and excitement. With terrific sound, if you don't know this music, you're missing something special.

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

The Honegger, Martinu and Rivier pieces are not currently listed in the Gramophone Classical Catalogue, but these fine performances do far more than merely fill gaps. Ravel's Sonata, dating from 1920-22, was an important piece in its composer's development, as he himself acknowledged, and the probable inspiration of the other works here. In turn, Ravel was acquainted with Kodaly's Duo, Op. 7 of 1914, which the Turovskys have already recorded (Chandos ABRD1102, 11/84). The Sonata must have come as a shock after the luxuriance of La valse (1919-20), but its scalingdown of resources led to no loss of musical intensity, and although the writing does not, at least now, sound outre, it is extremely inventive in instrumental terms and the Turovskys make an aptly zestful response.

Afterwards, Rivier's 1937 Sonatina sounds modest indeed, yet its three movements are melodious, graceful and effectively written, without conveying anything of the sense of pushing the boundaries outwards, musically and technically, which makes the Ravel so exhilarating. Honegger's and Martinu's pieces are weightier than Rivier's and the former, dating from 1932, has a quite sombre central Andante, plus an extremely diverse finale. More consistent, and just as capably written, is Martinu's two-movement Duo of 1927. And again, there are strong contrasts, the first movement being thoughtful, the last one effervescent.

The Turovsky's performances are thoughtful, too, and resonantly virtuosic when required, nowhere more so than in Martinu's cadenza. Their recital plays for 63 minutes, and while the recording is thoroughly lifelike on LP it seems to me that on CD the separation of the two instruments is more explicit and the music is projected rather more sharply. Ravel's Sonata exemplifies these points especially well.

-- Gramophone [7/1985]

Matthias Bamert’s ‘Contemporaries of Mozart’ project is one of Chandos’ longest-running and most successful series. The unquestionable genius of Mozart has tended to eclipse the accomplishments of many other composers who were writing at the same time as he. Many of these composers, successful in their day, suffered neglect in subsequent decades and in some cases were almost forgotten. Matthias Bamert’s series has shown just how rich this area of the repertoire is, and each of the CDs has received superb critical acclaim. This uniquely compiled box set comprises five of the most successful CDs in the series to date (many of the works are poorly represented in the catalogue, if at all) and provides an ideal introduction to the repertoire – at bargain price.

Each CD offers a wealth of classically elegant melodies wrapped up in imaginative orchestration. There are three symphonies by the Mannheim master Carl Stamitz, replete with crescendos and the then newfangled clarinets in an orchestra that so impressed Mozart. There are shimmering and rhythmic symphonies by the composer, publisher and piano maker Ignace Pleyel and the graceful and introspective symphonies by Pavel Vranicky, including the unusually titled ‘Grand Characteristic Symphony for Peace with the French Republic’, plus delightful symphonies by Kozeluch and dramatic orchestral music by Krommer, who is better known for his woodwind music.

Classical Music

The fourth volume of what promises to be a complete Chopin piano music survey from Louis Lortie contains five nocturnes and the 19 waltzes. Lortie devises a running order that mixes and matches the works to achieve variety and contrast. For example, the youthful E-flat waltz (the one that Michelangeli often played as an encore) emerges like a ray of sunshine following the wistfully lyrical B minor Op. 69 No. 2, while the short, lightheartedly flashy posthumous A-flat waltz serves as a cameo-like bridge between the grand, multithematic E-flat Op. 18 and A-flat Op. 34 No. 1 waltzes.

In general, Lortie is at his elegant best. He lovingly lingers over phrases in the posthumous A minor waltz as if he’s reluctant to let the bittersweet phrases go. As with the B-flat minor Op. 9 No. 1 nocturne, Lortie’s E minor waltz is supple and small of scale, in contrast to more dynamic, surging interpretations. Lortie’s brisk, liberally-pedaled F minor waltz imparts a floating, almost weightless character to the work. Similarly, the flexible, well-proportioned A minor Op. 34 No. 2 waltz never drags, and the F major Op. 34 No. 3’s “dog chasing its tail” right-hand runs are doled out with remarkable evenness and control.

The A-flat Op. 42 goes swimmingly by any standard, although a wider dynamic scope and bigger climaxes would have elevated the performance from memorable to irresistible. However, Lortie illuminates the B major Op. 32 No. 1 nocturne’s dark undercurrents by way of pronounced yet logical modifications of the basic pulse. His uptempo way with the A-flat Op. 64 No. 3 waltz reminds me a little of Rachmaninov’s similarly paced, poker-faced interpretation.

Of the two Op. 37 nocturnes, I prefer Lortie’s G minor for its introspective simplicity. The G major is quite pretty on the surface (the beautifully pointed chromatically descending notes in the left hand, for example), but Ashkenazy’s greater breadth and more incisive right-hand double notes get more out of the music. One also could imagine additional rhythmic kick to the central mazurka section in Lortie’s sensitively shaded posthumous C-sharp minor nocturne. The smooth and discreetly resonant engineering complements Lortie’s artistry. All told, this release is an enticing, albeit lower-voltage, alternative to recent Chopin waltz cycles from Stephen Hough and Alexandre Tharaud, with a generous 83-minute total playing time.

-- Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com

Classical Music

Recorded in: Waalse Kerk, Amsterdam, The Netherlands 2 & 3 July 2000 (String Quartet), 20 December 2000 (Hier ist Friede), 21 December 2000 (Four Pieces), 6-8 February 2001 (Lyric Suite), 21 November 2001 (Adagio) Producer(s) Bob Zimmerman (String Quartet, Lyric Suite) Henk Guittart (Hier ist Friede, Adagio) Janneke van der Meer (Four Pieces) Sound Engineer(s) Adriaan Verstijnen

Featuring Gluck Arias from Alceste, Wagner Arias from Tannhauser, Beethoven Fidelio Act 1, Britten, Menotti, Handel (sung in English).

Classical Music

Recorded in: St Silas The Martyr, Kentish Town, London 30 November and 1 December 1992 Producer(s) Ralph Couzens Sound Engineer(s) Ben Connellan

David Childs is joined by the BBC Philharmonic and Ben Gernon for this second volume of Euphonium concertos, featuring music by Vaughan Williams, Mealor, Gregson and Ball. King Edward III once said: "If you want to train a longbowman, start with his grandfather." This adage holds just as true for British euphonium soloist David Childs, born in 1981, to a family whose name had been synonymous with brass for the last two generations. His grandfather John was a well-respected euphonium player from the Welsh Valleys who inspired his sons, Robert & Nicholas to take up euphonium. Robert began teaching his son David from an early age and in recent years David has emerged as one of the finest brass soloists of his generation. In the year 2000 he broke new ground for the euphonium becoming the first euphonium soloist to win the brass final of the televised 'BBC Young Musician of the Year’ which led to David’s highly acclaimed première performance of Philip Wilby’s Concerto for Euphonium with the BBC Philharmonic under Yan Pascal Totelier. In the same year David was awarded the coveted ‘Euphonium Player of the Year’ title, a title he won again in 2004 and still holds today. Since that time David has been instrumental in raising the euphonium’s profile in the classical world of music and has not ceased to wow audiences with his astonishing technique, extrovert musicality and engaging stage presence.

Recorded in: All Saints' Church, Tooting, London 18-19 October 1990 Producer(s) Brian Couzens Sound Engineer(s) Ralph Couzens Jeffrey Ginn (Assistant)