Works For Two Pianos

Sonatas Op. 120

Works For Organ

Serenade Op. 11, Serenade Op.

Partitas for Organ

Symphony 3, Haydn Variations

Symphony 6, Symphony 8

Vier Letzte Lieder, Wesendonck

Denmark’s leading composer Ib Nørholm’s recent work “The Elf Mirror” Op. 141 received tremendous reviews after its premiere in Copenhagen in the spring of 1997. One major newspaper called it “a milestone in the Danish music history”. Kontrapunkt release 32262 is the live recording of that concert. This work is now nominated for the prestigious Nordic Council’s Music Prize.

3 Sonatas For Cello And Piano

Steve Elcock, born in Chesterfield, Derbyshire in 1957, obtained an A-Level in music and learned the violin up to grade 7. As a composer, he is otherwise self-taught, beginning to write from around age fifteen and continuing to do so ever since. He trained as a teacher of French but, once qualified in 1981, he moved to France, where he worked in language services until his retirement in 2019. From being unknown to anyone outside a small circle of his friends and family, his music has now come to the attention of music lovers, conductors and reviewers. That turnaround began with the release of his Third Symphony which was released in September 2017 and was almost immediately featured as 'CD of the Week' on Record Review on BBC Radio 3 - a rare feat for a work by a hitherto unknown composer. Steve Elcock has composed ten symphonies to date, five of which have been recorded. He has also written concertos, symphonic poems and much chamber music.

Symphony 15, Waiting For..

Symphony 2, Academic Festival

Like the Brahms symphony series by Lønskov/Llambias piano duet (KPT 32120, KPT 32128, KTP 32138, KTP 32148) which are enjoying continuing success in many markets in the world, this series of Tchaikovsky’s orchestral works for four hand piano is the original arrangements by the composer. And like the Brahms series, these are premiere recordings.

Recorded between 2009 and 2021, this mammoth project drew the highest critical acclaim: ‘A project that began in 2010 is completed; what a journey it has been. Bavouzet’s gifts of insightful exposition and revelation are matched by the wisdom of his curation... A triumph’ -The Sunday Times ‘A recording worth rushing to the shops for. Bavouzet plays these inventive masterpieces with real love’ -Classic FM ‘Quite apart from his stylistic command and sheer delight in the music, Bavouzet’s mixing and matching of different periods in the composer’s awe-inspiring pianistic development ensures there is never a dull moment’ -The Financial Times ‘Bavouzet’s readings have a strong claim to be the finest Haydn playing of recent vintage on the modern piano. They are a work of an insightful musician of profound culture and wide interests, whose intellectual emotional identification with Haydn is unreserved, and whose playing, beautifully captured in technical terms, is a delight to listen to.’- International Record Review ‘A major modern recording landmark in the Haydn discography’ - Gramophone

The general title of this CD, though not mentioned on the cover, is “Danish Orchestral Music”. Not only it showcases some of the best of Danish music from the romantic school to the contemporary but also it is showing off the extraordinary level of the conservatoire orchestra of Aarhus city.

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.

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

This 2CD collection of more than 200 selections taken from various song recitals given 1956-2010 is released in celebration of the 150th birthday of Richard Strauss. + No less than 18 exceptional Strauss singers perform here, listed below in the order they are heard in this edition: Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Lisa Della Casa, Irmgard Seefried, Nicolai Gedda, Christa Ludwig, Hermann Prey, Leontyne Price, Peter Schreier, Edita Gruberova, Jessye Norman, Edith Mathis, Marjana Lipovšek, Heinz Zednik, Frederica von Stade, Francisco Araiza, Thomas Hampson, Diana Damrau and Michael Volle. + The songs range from famous early songs such as Die Nacht and Zueignung via excerpts from the rarely heard Krämerspiegel to late settings of poems by Friedrich Rückert.

Tracks:
1. OISTRAKH/MUNCH/BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA - (1-3) SYMPHONIE EN SI BEMOL MAJEUR/ B FLAT MAJOR / B-DUR, OP.20
2. OISTRAKH/MUNCH/BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA - (4) POEME
3. OISTRAKH/MUNCH/BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA - (5-7) INTRODUCTION ET RONDO CAPRICCIOSO

Known for his highly imaginative and philosophical approaches to his musical presentations, Federico Colli is back with a second album on Chandos. Having begun with Scarlatti sonatas, he now turns his hand to the great master J.S. Bach to explore the relationship between Bach’s music for keyboard and what Colli regards as its transcendent quality, its universal beauty. In a personal note for the booklet, Colli explains how he arrived at the extraordinary interpretations captured here. The relationship he explores is discoverable in the Italian Concerto and Partita No. 4, but it is in Ferruccio Busoni’s arrangement of Bach’s Chaconne that the relationship, in his view, becomes clear. Colli offers the listener a vivid interpretation which links the progress of the piece, rich in symbolic detail, to important stages in the life, and afterlife, of Christ, different re-iterations of the theme and of the tonalities corresponding with key moments in the religious narrative. As always, Colli gives deeply felt and exciting performances, his irrepressible personality and flair evident throughout.

REVIEW:

My enthusiasm for this disc is less about Colli’s philosophical ruminations upon the music, however heartfelt they may be, and more about his approach to playing it, which is both compelling and fresh; it combines abundant technical finesse with a visionary grasp of scale and structure, as well as the ability to project extremes of fragility and monumentality (most notably in the Chaconne), and above all to conjure a kaleidoscopic palette of colours and textures from his Steinway. This is an intelligently compiled programme, stunningly performed, in immaculate sound. Do not hesitate.

– Gramophone

Deeply committed to world premiere performances and recordings of new music, the Royal Northern College of Music Wind Orchestra is under the direction of Clark Rundell, with guest conductor Mark Heron. Robert Russell Bennett is best known for his orchestrations for over three-hundred musicals between 1920 and 1975. His rich career left us a heritage of more than two-hundred original compositions, more than thirty of which were written for wind band.

Over the last decade the music of the Puerto Rican composer Roberto Sierra has become internationally admired, and this has led to prestigious commissions and performances around the world. Fandangos was heard at the BBC Proms in London and employs a harpsichord work attributed to Antonio Soler as a departure for a richly inventive orchestral fantasy. The dramatic Sinfonia No. 4 was described by ArtsNowNashville as 'a textbook example of how this composer breathes new life into old forms. The piece is basically a classic Germanic symphony imbued with Spanish sensibilities and reinvigorated with new harmonies and rhythms.' Robert Schumann is subtly evoked in Carnaval, five character pieces that explore mythical creatures, both menacing and serene.

Classical Music

Between the Bliss and Me is a wonderful collection of musical settings of poems by the great American poet, Emily Dickinson. The CD gathers compositions which might be familiar to some listeners, particularly the settings composed by Aaron Copland, but there are also works by lesser known composers such as Ernst Bacon, John Duke, Arthur Farwell, Scott Gendel, Lori Laitman and Richard Pearson-Thomas which add an extra dimension to Dickinson's genius. Unlike most modern art song, the songs on this CD have a refreshing melodic quality.