The first of two discs by Pieter Wispelwey that will be released in 2023 is a re-assembling of previously released recordings of works by Schubert. This short series is titled In Memoriam and is inspired by a grave loss Pieter suffered a few months ago. The disc includes Schubert’s masterpieces for violin and piano, transcribed for cello – and the most famous Trockne Blumen, originally for flute. To accompany Pieter on piano is his faithful musical companion Paolo Giacometti.

Cellist Laura Metcalf enjoys a thriving career performing as a soloist, orchestral musician, and performing in the ensembles Break of Reality and Sybarite 5. Joined by pianist Matei Varga, this release is Laura’s debut solo recording. Following this release, Laura has scheduled a series of concerts which will begin in New York City in April. The program for this album features works by Martinu, Enescu, Poulenc, and more.

Here is a unique disc devoted to cello Galant music composed mid-18th Century in the areas of Mannheim and Berlin. Played on four-string cello piccolo by one of latest generation most interesting and investigative Baroque cellists, the Canadian Octavie Dostaler-Lalonde. Most of the repertoire is recorded and released for the first time. The variery of the atmosphere is guaranteed by the presence of works for cello obbligato, where the fortepiano acquires a leading role. A disc of discoveries: music, sound colours and musicians.

Toke Møldrup's virtuosic new set of Bach's six cello suites was recorded on a 1697 David Tecchler cello and culminates with a wildly decorated 6th suite performed on a five-stringed Italian instrument. Møldrup is principal cellist of the Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra, and professor of cello at the Royal Danish Academy of Music. The release set also includes Viggo Mangor's charming arrangement of Suite no. 1 for two violins, organ and cello. The Danish cellist Toke Møldrup, 36, recently received Queen Ingrid’s Honorary Award for his achievements on the Danish music scene. In the 20 years of his career so far, he has performed both across Europe and in the United States, South America, Japan and the Middle East at venues such as the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, the Wigmore Hall, Vienna’s Musikverein and the Berlin Konzerthaus. A frequent guest at Danish music societies, Møldrup has performed as a soloist with Danish and international symphony orchestras under conductors such as Aldo Ceccato, Sanntu Rouvali, Thomas Søndergaard and Joshua Weilerstein.

After Weinberg and his wife were able to move to Moscow in 1943 with the help of Shostakovich, he wrote the Piano Trio op. 24 in 1945. The present recording is based on a copy of the manuscript from 1945, which contains all of the original ideas about the dynamics, phrasings and peculiarities of the composition.

Until shortly before his death in 1996, Weinberg’s works were regularly performed with great enthusiasm by Russian artists and now, they slowly but increasingly are reaching the international concert stage. His Trio, like his other numerous works, shows his immense mastery of all compositional forms, genres and styles - always shaped by events in his own fateful life.

REVIEWS:

Violinist Linus Roth writes in his notes for this disc that he really became aware of Mieczysław Weinberg only in 2010. A lot of water has gone under the musical bridge since then: there is barely a month when another disc of his music has not been released. I have just finished one review, and here I am writing another; a few more are in the offing. If you have discovered this endlessly fascinating composer, this is a marvellous prospect. We should be truly thankful, for once bitten the listener cannot get enough of Weinberg.

The Piano Trio begins in a characteristically bold, almost challenging fashion, as if we had been eavesdropping on a conversation which had just reached a declamatory stage. This mood is soon replaced by a tentative violin with gentle piano asides. There follows a section in which the violin’s strings are plucked, accompanied by odd piano notes. The second movement, a toccata, leaps in all guns blazing with an energetic irresistible drive. The notes fairly rain down upon you, particularly from an insistent piano. The piano seems still to be in assertive mood in the opening of the third movement marked Poem before it calms down. The violin and the cello weave a gentle melody maintained for some time, rising in intensity at various stages. All three instruments end up raising their voices, demanding to be heard. The climax comes in the form of a return to the opening melody, and the movement disappears like a puff of smoke. The finale, the work’s longest movement, shows each instrument off with some dazzling flashes. They remind the listener of Shostakovich but there is a distinct, easily identifiable way which Weinberg made his own.

As the disc’s title, Light in Darkness, suggests, Weinberg always ensured that in the most despairing episodes in his music he was determined to inject a shaft of sunlight to burn through the stormiest of clouds. That gave hope, as it very definitely does at the end of the Piano Trio, an early composition for Weinberg. He wrote it only two years after arriving in Moscow, fleeing from Nazi-occupied Poland. However, it embodies a style and power that remained uniquely his own throughout his compositional life.

Linus Roth notes that substantial sonatas for two violins are rare in the repertoire but Weinberg’s piece stands critical comparison with Prokofiev’s better known one. Dedicated to Leonid Kogan and his wife Elizaveta Gilels, the great pianist Emil’s sister, this sonata explores the very limits of the instrument’s abilities. The opening, with a Bachian flavour, is a complex set of variations whose forward propulsive energy is interrupted by a contemplative central section that further explores the main theme of the opening. The urgency returns, taking this onward towards the movement’s close. Bookended by a plaintive phrase, the second movement is a heartfelt and very lovely melody, amongst which Weinberg characteristically slips in some Jewish themes. A very pleasant melody which opens the final movement is present throughout it though in a mix of frenetic energy and looming threat in its central section. Linus Roth suggests there is material here that the makers of horror films and thrillers could usefully mine. He must have had in mind Bernard Herrmann’s shower scene from Hitchcock’s Psycho.

Next up are Two Songs without Words for violin and piano. They are nearer to a 19^th century sound than usual for Weinberg’s music, and uncommonly sweet. Unsurprisingly, he never allows any hint at banality. A nod to Mendelssohn, they would I can imagine be an obvious choice for such a duo to present as encores in a recital.

The final offering on this disc is a piece entitled Sonatensatz II, a beautiful tune shared between violin and piano. It is considerably dark though with a veiled promise of lighter times to come. Linus Roth writes that this could be a warning: we should work to ensure that we will never permit such dark times as Weinberg had to live through to recur, and that hope always follows darkness.

Among the increasing number of discs of Weinberg’s music that have been thankfully appearing in recent years, this one is especially significant. It shows the superb command Weinberg displayed in his chamber music. Each of these works, an exemplar of its genre, get a superlative performance. Linus Roth has written how much of a revelation Weinberg’s music has been to him. The obvious thrill he experiences in playing it is shared with the other three performers, and through them is imparted to the listener. This disc will never be far from my player, and it is thoroughly recommended.

--MusicWeb International (Steve Arloff)

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.”

When in 1913 Respighi settled in Rome where he would reside for the rest of his life, he would produce a large amount of highly varied music-some of it now well-known, much of it less so. Geoffrey Simon’s championship of the little-known works of celebrated composers has proved highly successful on both record and in the concert hall, and his exploration of Respighi’s catalogue has yielded a number of colourful compositions whose neglect hitherto remains something of a mystery. The works recorded on this Cala Signum reissue cover a wide range of moods, from the opulence and excitement for which Respighi was noted in his famous Roman Trilogy, to more reflective pieces inspired by nostalgia for the music of the past.

Raphaël Feye and the Karski Quartet have collaborated on an exhilarating new album, paying a tribute to Luigi Boccherini's string quintets. These selected quintets showcase the composers exceptional ability to craft melodies that are both elegant and emotionally resonant while maintaining a graceful interplay between the instruments. To enhance the recording's excitement, the musicians decided to vary the distribution of the parts, ensuring each piece possesses a unique and distinct character.

Paul Mendelssohn, Felix’s younger brother, was a banker by profession but an accomplished amateur cellist, and it is to him that we owe Felix Mendelssohn's three major compositions for cello and piano. This new recording presents Mendelssohn's complete output for cello and piano, and includes the three large scale works, as well as two short pieces, performed by leading virtuosi Marcy Rosen and Lydia Artymiw. Marcy Rosen has established herself as one of the most important and respected artists of our day. Los Angeles Times music critic Herbert Glass has called her "one of the intimate art's abiding treasures." She has performed in recital and with orchestra throughout Canada, England, France, Japan, Italy, Switzerland, and all fifty of the United States. She made her concerto debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra at the age of eighteen and has since appeared with such noted orchestras as the Dallas Symphony, the Phoenix Symphony, the Caramoor Festival Orchestra, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra in Carnegie Hall, the Jupiter Symphony and Concordia Chamber Orchestra at Alice Tully Hall, and the Tokyo Symphony at the famed Orchard Hall in Tokyo. Lydia Artymiw has emerged as one of the most compelling and individual pianists of her generation. For over forty years, she has consistently earned rave reviews, firmly establishing herself as a unique artistic personality with rare communicative gifts. Critics have praised her artistry and highly original interpretations, her warmth, intelligence, poetic gifts, thoughtfulness, versatility, and most of all, her distinctive and beautiful sound.