The Polish-born German composer Franz Xaver Scharwenka was a much lauded and beloved figure of late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century music. His four piano concertos are central works among his small output. They have here been recorded together for the first time.

Piano Concerto No. 1 was dedicated to Liszt and brought Scharwenka great renown. Originally conceived as a solo piano Fantasy, it was reworked as a piano concerto which in its content, despite a seemingly conventional three-movement structure, reflects its origin as a fantasia. The Second Piano Concerto seems to represent a step back stylistically, echoing the conservative style of Brahms. However, the influence of his native Poland can also be heard in allusions to Chopin as well as in Polish dance elements in the finale. The Third Concerto, in C sharp minor, opens with impressively powerful music reflective of this key signature, but in its highly romantic way it also introduces delicate and lyrical passages. Perhaps the finest of the concertos, the Fourth was met with astonishing enthusiasm at its premiere in 1908. It is an enormously varied work, a quality typified in the ‘roller-coaster’ first movement which moves rapidly from one expressive world to another.

R E V I E W S:

"This long-awaited Chandos set gathers the four piano concertos by Franz Xaver Scharwenka (1850-1924) together for the first time, in thrilling performances from Alexander Markovich and the Estonian National Symphony under Neeme Järvi… this new survey of Scharwenka’s piano concertos is a personal triumph for Markovich who consistently delivers titanic pianism that few can match these days." -- Michael Jameson, International Record Review [5/2014]

As a pianist, Dohnányi was legendary. As a composer, however, he was for many years dismissed as little more than a musical adjunct of Brahms. Certainly his music is more conservative than that of his contemporaries, but it is hard to see how anyone could fail to be engaged by its humour and passion. Wtih music this rich in detail you need a top-flight orchestra to bring out all the nuances and subtlety in the orchestration. Matthias Bamert and the BBC Philharmonic have already proved themselves worthy Dohnányi advocates. The irrepressible Howard Shelley is the pianist in the virtuosic piano concerto. Clifford Lantaff is the BBC Philharmonic's own renowned harpist and the young James Ehnes, who performed with such élan on Chandos' recent Hummel disc, is the soloist in the violin concerto.

Recorded in: Brangwyn Hall, Swansea 25-26 February 1998 Producer(s) Ralph Couzens Sound Engineer(s) Ralph Couzens Richard Smoker (Assistant)

This new release represents one of the comparatively rare recordings of the highly attractive string quartets by William Walton, one of England's finest composers. The works are performed by the Doric String Quartet, exclusive Chandos artists and among the youngest and most impressive quartets on the classical music scene today. Their recent release, of the string quartets by Korngold (CHAN 10611), was given 'Editor's Choice' in Gramophone. Walton's two string quartets, written about a quarter of a century apart, are barely recognisable as the work of the same composer. The String Quartet of 1922, an extraordinarily ambitious work in terms of scale and technical demands, was written when Walton was in his late teens. The familiar Quartet in A minor is a work of Walton's maturity, more compact in form, conservative in language, and relaxed in tone. When first performed, the String Quartet of 1922 was met with a lukewarm response, which led Walton to withdraw it and to make several substantial cuts to the material. When the work was revived, a few years after his death, for performances and recordings - including its premiere recording, on Chandos (CHAN 8944, Gabrieli String Quartet) - these cuts were kept. This particular recording, however, offers the full-length and original version, as edited by Hugh MacDonald in 2008 for Oxford University Press's William Walton Edition. Significantly, this quartet is for the most part conspicuously lacking in the Stravinskyan constant changes of time signature, which are such a prominent feature of the later works by Walton. In the composer's own words, this work is 'full of undigested Bartók and Schoenberg'. It seems to have been in the late 1930s that Walton first agreed to write the String Quartet in A minor for the Bleech Quartet (led by Harry Bleech who later became the founding conductor of the London Mozart Players). But during the Second World War other projects intervened, mainly scores for war-time propaganda films, and it was not until late 1944 that Walton started work on the quartet. The return to the string quartet genre did not come easily to Walton. As he wrote to a friend in 1945, 'I'm in a suicidal struggle with four strings and am making no headway whatsoever. Brick walls, slit trenches... I'm afraid I've done film music for too long'. Despite his initial difficulty, the work gradually took shape, and Walton wrote to the same friend a short time later that he had 'captured a trench' and 'overcome some barbed wire entanglements'. The String Quartet in A minor was completed in time for its successful premiere in 1947 by the Bleech Quartet in a chamber concert on the BBC's new Third Programme.

Chandos Movies is one of the best-known film-music based labels in the industry, and has received tremendous critical acclaim. The series is especially associated with the conductor Rumon Gamba, whose understanding of and enthusiasm for the genre is famous. Vaughan Williams' film music ranks amongst the very finest ever written, and this CD includes some of his best examples. This disc is especially important as some of the material has never been recorded before. The result is a hugely important release which will be of interest to both film music buffs and fans of Vaughan Williams.

Recorded in: Duomo Vecchio, Monselice, Italy 13-14 July 1998 Producer(s) Gian Andrea Lodovici Sound Engineer(s) Matteo Costa

Includes work(s) by Josef Myslivecek. Ensemble: London Mozart Players. Conductor: Matthias Bamert.

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

This new coupling brings Bax's Violin and Cello Concertos together for the first time, and includes the highly attractive 'Morning Song'. Both Lydia Mordkovitch and Raphael Wallfisch are regarded as outstanding soloists in their fields. Recorded in: St Jude on the Hill, Hampstead, London 23-25 June 1991 (Violin Concerto) Recorded in: All Saints' Church, Tooting, London 1986 & 1987 (Cello Concerto), 7 & 8 January 1987 (Morning Song) Producer(s) Tim Oldham (Violin Concerto) Brian Couzens (other works) Sound Engineer(s) Richard Lee (Violin Concerto) Ralph Couzens (other works) Peter Sheldon (Assistant: Violin Concerto) Philip Couzens (Assistant: Cello Concerto) Tim Handley (Assistant: Morning Song)

For decades now the Dvorák symphony cycle sweepstakes has been dominated by three classic contenders: Kubelik (DG), Kertesz (Decca--and to my mind not quite as deserving of the attention it has received), and Rowicki (Philips). But there are other cycles worthy of consideration, including Neumann (Supraphon), Pesek (Virgin), Suitner (Berlin Classics), Macal (Koss), and this one. Its merits are considerable, and it may be that its previous incarnation on nine discs (with couplings) prevented collectors from making its acquaintance.

Neeme Järvi's fresh approach most recalls Rowicki's and results in very fine interpretations of Symphonies Nos. 1-4, 6, and 8; very good ones of Nos. 5 and 9, and a strangely dark and heavy performance of No. 7 that will not appeal to all tastes but bespeaks of a valid interpretive tradition (noted Czech conductor Zdenek Kosler always did it this way too). Sonically the recordings range from excellent to excessively reverberant, but they certainly equal or surpass most of the competition. If you collect these symphonies and want to explore beyond the canonical Big Three sets, you will find much to enjoy here.

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

Classical Music

The first instalment in a new series, Hummel's Masses,Opp 77 and 111. These are choral Masses and with Hickox's magnificently drilled Collegium Musicum 90 forces, there is never a moment when you miss the presence of solo voices. Gramophone Award for the best Choral recording of the year 2003.

This new release from Chandos' early music label, Chaconne, focuses on Buxtehude's seven cantatas, collectively known as Membra Jesu nostri. These are among Buxtehude's best-known works, and perfectly exemplify the seventeenth-century preference for musical structures that are broadly symmetrical, but subtly varied in detail. Each of the seven cantatas has roughly the same shape: Biblical passages are set for the whole ensemble and enclose stanzas from the mediaeval poem Rhythmica oratio, which are set as arias for reduced vocal forces and interspersed with instrumental ritornelli.

Buxtehude's Membra Jesu nostri takes the form of a sequence of seven meditations on the crucified body of Jesus, beginning with the feet ('Ad pedes'), followed by the knees ('Ad genua'), the hands ('Ad manus'), the side ('Ad latus'), the breast ('Ad pectus'), the heart ('Ad cor'), and the face ('Ad faciem'). As such, the work is written from the perspective of a penitent kneeling at the foot of the cross and gradually extending his gaze upwards, meditating on each part of the body in turn. The keys chosen for the cantatas seem to have added symbolic meaning. As the gaze rises, they move from flats to sharps, from C minor to E minor, before finally returning to the opening key to produce a beautifully unified cycle. On this release the cantata cycle is complemented by Matthias Weckmann's Kommet her zu mir alle, a setting of the words from St Matthew's Gospel (11: 28 - 30), in which the composer gives the words of Jesus to a virtuoso bass singer with an impressive range of nearly two octaves, a part here performed by Peter Harvey, and provides him with an accompaniment of two violins, three bass viols, and continuo.

The works on this disc are performed by an excellent ensemble of early music specialists. As exclusive artists, The Purcell Quartet is today popularizing the cantatas of Buxtehude in concerts and recordings involving a fabulous quartet of soloists - Emma Kirkby,Michael Chance, Charles Daniels, and Peter Harvey - to which, for the occasion, the group is joined by the soprano Elin Monahan Thomas. The Quartet has also recorded a huge range of music exclusively for Chandos, including works by Purcell, Corelli, Lawes, Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, Weckmann, Buxtehude, Leclair, Schütz, Couperin, and Biber, to outstanding critical and public acclaim. The early music specialists Fretwork, the viol ensemble, also performs on this recording.

Recorded in: St Bartholemew's Church, Orford, Suffolk 24-26 June 1996 Producer(s) Nicholas Anderson Sound Engineer(s) Ben Connellan

Recorded in: Forde Abbey, Somerset 25 August 1996 Recorded in: The Warehouse, London 15-17 June 1996 Producer(s) Adrian Hunter Sound Engineer(s) Ben Connellan Gary Cole Gary Cole Annabel Weeden (Assistant)