SOMM Recordings is thrilled to announce an exciting new album from the London Chamber Ensemble and violinist and director Madeleine Mitchell of premiere recordings of early 20th century English string music by Herbert Howells and his Royal College of Music teacher Charles Wood, including the recently discovered earlier version of "In Gloucestershire", thought lost, alongside two delightful short pieces, Luchinushka and Chosen Tune, newly arranged by Madeleine Mitchell. Herbert Howells first composed a string quartet entitled "In Gloucestershire" in 1916, though the score was immediately lost. He began re-composing the work a few years later before announcing it's completion in 1920. Following early performances and revisions, this version also disappeared. However, in the 1980s it emerged that a set of parts of the original 1920 version had survived, and it is this version, newly constructed and edited by the author of the booklet notes, Jonathan Clinch, and cellist Joseph Spooner who also features on this disc. Howell's Three Pieces for Violin and Piano, Op. 28 is also from this same period. The title of No. 2, "Chosen Tune", refers to Chosen Hill, Howell's birthplace near Gloucester, which affords beautiful views of the surrounding countryside where he enjoyed walking. Mitchell first performed these three pieces at the St. Petersburg Festival of British Music in 2009. Having played the Three Pieces... in many countries since 2009, Mitchell arranged two of these, "Chosen Tune" and "Luchinushka" for a quartet program to be given at a Victoria and Albert Museum exhibition in London in January of 2022. The Charles Wood Quartet in D major was his last string quartet and most likely composed during the years of the First World War after the premiere of his Quartet in F major on 7 March 1916. This well crafted work incorporates Irish jigs, folk tunes and laments which reflect both his Irish roots and the growing sense of nationalism celebrating British Music during the period. Woods' music, along with many other early 20th century writers of tonal music, fell out of fashion during the decades that followed, but as this recording shows, SOMM considers the music very well worth re-discovering and plans to record Wood's remaining five numbered quartets in future.

Angel Stanislav Wang (b. 2003, California), winner of the 2022 Jaén Prize International Piano Competition, presents his debut recital featuring Liszt’s monumental Sonata in B minor, and Shostakovich’s Piano Quintet in G minor accompanied by the Bretón String Quartet, plus excerpts from Granados's Goyescas and the competition imposed work Poema a un amor eterno by Laura Vega.

Extraordinary works by British Women composers, brought to light by cellist Catherine Wilmers In A Cello Galaxy of British Women Composers, Catherine Wilmers brings to light an extraordinary collection of works by British women presenting us with twelve premiere recordings. Drawing on diligent research, Wilmers unearths strikingly original compositions presenting us with premiere recordings by Amy Elsie Horrocks, Ethel Barns, Elizabeth Poston, Joan Trimble, Dora Bright, Susan Spain Dunk, and Sarah Rodgers, whose Mountain Airs was written for the cellist. Some of these works lay forgotten in the archives of the Royal Academy of Music, their potential stifled by societal limitations rather than artistic merit. The album is more than a rediscovery-it is a testament to the resilience and artistry of these composers. The satisfyingly detailed liner notes reveal the challenges they faced, often in their own words or through the prejudices of their time. As late as the 1920s, the critic Cecil Gray echoed Dr Johnson's notorious remark: 'A woman's composing is like a dog walking on it's hind legs; it is not done well but you are surprised to see it done at all.' Such dismissals only fuel the need to champion these voices today. Wilmers' deep connection to this repertoire is evident in every performance, matched sensitively by accompanying pianist, Jill Morton. A former cellist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Catherine Wilmers has long questioned why so few works by women have entered the standard repertoire. This album is part of her answer-a luminous and long-overdue celebration of their music.

This debut album, from Germany-based ensemble Conceptus, features music for tenor and ensemble by Butterworth, Warlock, Holst, and Bridge, in addition to Timothy Collins’ Sea Song. Collins has composed and arranged extensively for the ensemble.

Sea Song – Timothy Collins
Originally composed in 2018 and set to the poignant poetry of Katherine Mansfield, this evocative piece delves into themes of aging, sorrow, and loss. Conceptus has brought Collins' musical narrative to life with an accompanying 10-minute music film available on Apple Music and YouTube.

Six Songs from a Shropshire Lad – George Butterworth
Delving into themes of nostalgia and the tragedy of lost youth, this collection, originally composed in 1911, captures the essence of Alfred Edward Housman's timeless poetry. Collins' arrangements embellish the poignant resonance of Butterworth's work, forever etched in the annals of English song.

The Curlew – Peter Warlock
Peter Warlock's masterwork, "The Curlew," meticulously arranged for Conceptus by Timothy Collins. Woven from the poetry of William Butler Yeats, this haunting composition, originally scored for string quartet, cor anglais, and flute, delves into macabre imagery and desolate landscapes.

Hymns from the Rig Veda Opus 24 – Gustav Holst
"Hymns from the Rig Veda" is transfigured by Conceptus with these arrangements from Timothy Collins. Drawing inspiration from ancient Sanskrit texts dating back to 1500 BCE, Holst's choral triumph offers a reverent exploration of Hindu philosophical thought. Experience the profound resonance of Holst's sacred compositions as Conceptus breathes new life into these timeless hymns.

Three Songs by Frank Bridge
From the reflective tones of "Come To Me In My Dreams" to the mythological allure of "Love Went A-Riding," Conceptus navigates the emotional depths of Bridge's compositions with grace and finesse.

Conceptus is an international, multi-faceted, and multi-disciplinary ensemble with membership drawn from Germany, Russia, Spain, the United Kingdom, Poland, and Australia. Formed in 2021, the ensemble is dedicated to bringing new life to great works of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and beyond, with a particular emphasis on Late Romantic British vocal music and song cycles.

Conceptus has also commissioned works by award-winning German composer, organist, and conductor Christoph Ritter, whose Requiem is set for a world premiere and recording in 2024. Conceptus Artistic Director, Scott Robert Shaw, released his acclaimed debut “The English Tenor” on Divine Art in 2023.

2020 - a time when travel was not easily possible - gave rise to this unusual journey in the mind, traversing the country and leading us to a variety of places. The guitar is our guide. But it doesn't travel alone; it joins mandolin, double bass, and accordion, inviting us to make music together in duets. The music originates from Spain, often from the pen of the famous composer and pianist Enrique Granados, who lived from 1867 to 1916 and wrote for the piano. His compositions vividly capture the atmosphere of the country. In the arrangements with guitar and partner instruments, new chapters are opened, the sounds leading us to new places. The central work is the "Valses Poeticos," which illuminate a different scene in each of it's ten short movements. In this "Spanish Journey," the guitar is not only the guiding thread of the production - a specific instrument is the protagonist: a 1955 concert guitar from the workshop of the Guitar maker Ricardo Sanchis-Carpio from Valencia. The accompanying musicians-Jochen Roß on mandolin, Florian Dohrmann on double bass, and Alexander Pankow on button accordion-are all longtime and cherished collaborators and fellow musicians. The electric guitar finds it's place alongside the accordion, keeping pace with it's volume and tonal range. The "Spanish Journey" is a free-flowing exploration that began in the mind and has now become audible, with impressions of Spain, hints of jazz and classical music, and subtle emotionality.

14.99

The Arcadia Quartet’s acclaimed survey of Weinberg’s String Quartets continues with this fourth volume containing Quartets Nos 6, 13, and 15. Quartet No. 6 was composed in 1946, the composer dedicating it to his friend Georgiy Sviridov, whom he had met in Shostakovich’s circle. The Quartet is a summit of his early achievements, and its musical language is strikingly advanced in relation to traditional Soviet works in the genre. It was banned by the authorities, and as a result, Weinberg wrote no more quartets until after the death of his mentor Shostakovich. String Quartet No. 13 was composed in 1977 and dedicated to the Borodin Quartet. It comprises a single movement lasting some fourteen or fifteen minutes, making it the shortest of all Weinberg’s quartets. String Quartet No. 15, from 1979, is in many respects the most radically conceived of all Weinberg’s quartets – certainly its nine-movement design suggests so. In expressive terms, too, it is one of the most elusive. The movements carry no titles or expressive directions, and, as in the case of his previous two quartets, Weinberg confines himself to metronome indications, avoiding all specification of character.

REVIEWS:

The Arcadia Quartet's underlying technical finesse and emotional commitment duly reinforce this music’s stature.

— Gramophone

Whatever the music’s texture and temperature, the Arcadia group plunge in without fear, doubly armed with their sturdy technique and total commitment to Weinberg’s cause.

— The Times (U.K.)

SOMM RECORDINGS is delighted to announce Vaughan Williams – A Birthday Garland, the debut on disc of baritone Roderick Williams and pianist Susie Allan’s popular concert tribute to Ralph Vaughan Williams originally marking the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth in 2022.

Curating a “fantasy birthday party concert” in tribute to “the grand-daddy of 20th-century English song”, Williams has assembled pieces by RVW and 18 fellow composers. The result is a wide-ranging celebration of the rich variety of English song over a century and more that pays tribute to Vaughan Williams’ influence with songs inspired by poets ranging from Shakespeare and Tennyson to W.B. Yeats and Walt Whitman.

First recordings include Herbert Howell’s The Sorrow of Love, a setting of the Irish poet Seamus O’Sullivan; Sarah Cattley’s A Square and Candle-lighted Boat, treating verses by RVW’s cousin, Frances Cornford; and Roderick Williams’ own distinctive take on William Blake’s The Shepherd.

The 30-song recital includes songs by RVW’s teachers (Stanford, Parry, Wood, Bruch, Ravel), friends (Holst, Gurney, Howells, Butterworth, Finzi and others), and pupils (Grace Williams, Ina Boyle, Ruth Gipps, Elizabeth Maconchy and Madeleine Dring). Vaughan Williams’ biographer Simon Heffer provides authoritative booklet notes.

SOMM’s previous Vaughan Williams releases include the widely acclaimed four-volume Vaughan Williams Live series (SOMM ARIADNE 5016, 5018, 5019-2, 5020); Mark Bebbington and Rebeca Omordia’s “compelling” (International Piano) survey of his Piano Music (SOMMCD 0164); and the “priceless document” (MusicWeb International) coupling the Fifth Symphony and Dona nobis pace (SOMMCD 071).

Roderick Williams and Susie Allan’s previous SOMM releases include Celebrating English Song (SOMMCD 0177), lauded by Gramophone as “a treat”; the Ivor Gurney-focused Severn & Somme (SOMM 057), “strongly recommended” by BBC Music Magazine; and Somervell’s A Shropshire Lad and Maud (SOMMCD 0615), “performances of much beauty, empathy and sensitivity” (British Music Society).

Duo Compagni, comprising of tuba and piano, was established during the course of this CD production and has been touring internationally ever since. The duo performs new compositions and arrangements of works from all over the world. Their focus is on sound design and the musical joy of playing, which unites the pianist Susanne Endres and myself as solo tuba players. The tuba is no longer to be underestimated as a solo instrument. This has also been recognised by the German State Music Councils, who have named the tuba as the instrument of the year 2024, a fact that also inspired me to use this as an opportunity to produce this CD. (Siegfried Jung)

The works of Nikolai Myaskovsky, one of the major composers of the 20th century, remain largely unexplored. The Ural Youth Symphony Orchestra and Alexander Rudin continue their project of reviving the composer's unheralded masterpieces. His early symphonic poem Alastor embodies the aspirations of a lonely romantic hero towards an unrealisable ideal. The Seventh Symphony is a mature artist's contemplation of a man and of the world. The cantata The Kremlin by Night, composed late in his career, expresses Myaskovsky's love for his motherland and it's rich history. This is the first studio recording of the cantata. "Myaskovsky's works are very close to me," says Alexander Rudin, "his music is noble, darkened, philosophical and somewhat mysterious. Much in it remains unknown. Deriving from Tchaikovsky, Myaskovsky also inherits Mussorgsky's tragic disposition and premonition of catastrophe. His inherent awareness that life was restless, somewhat dangerous and unpredictable, was connected not only with his time but also with his perception of the world."

Violinist Sylvia Huang has drawn inspiration from nature since her childhood, marvelling at it's beauty, it's cycles and it's subtle harmony. Her Ode to Mother Nature project is designed to raise awareness of the fragility of all living things. Pianist Boris Kusnezow partners Sylvia on this musical journey, which celebrates the cycle of the seasons with works by Gabriel Dupont, Lili Boulanger, Dora Pejacevic, Edvard Grieg, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Camille Pepin and Eugene Ysaye. Each piece highlights an aspect of one of the seasons, as well as the deep connection between music and nature. Through this music Sylvia invites us to appreciate the deep bond that unites humanity to it's environment, and the urgent need to protect it.

Both Beach and MacDowell were formidably accomplished pianists who wrote concertos in barnstorming virtuoso style, for themselves and their contemporaries to play, but they could also turn their hand to the lucrative domestic market for piano-duet music. In doing so they also tapped into the 19th-century, Romantic preoccupation with childhood which Schumann had encapsulated in his Kinderszenen of 1838.

MacDowell wrote his Moon-Pictures Op. 21 in the winter of 1884–5 and subtitled them ‘after H.C. Andersen’s Picture-Book without Pictures’, referring to an 1848 collection of short bedtime stories.

Published in 1901 and dedicated to the composer’s niece, the six duets of the album’s title collection, Summer Dreams by Beach, are shorter and technically simpler than the Moon-Pictures, but they are prefaced by literary quotations which once more indicate that this is not music for children so much as music for adults to play to children, and for adults to play at being children. In any case, simpler means and fewer notes need hardly imply naivety of expression, and Beach’s self-taught technique was too rigorous to allow anything less than the most deftly fashioned work to escape her desk.

Composed in 1883, Beach’s brief 3 Movements for piano duet are the work of a prodigiously talented teenager who knows her early-Romantic piano literature – including Kinderszenen – inside out, but who also understands at this stage how to emulate rather than merely copy her models.

In the following year of 1884, the 23-year-old MacDowell wrote his 3 Poems Op. 20. Strictly speaking, Hamlet and Ophelia is the outlier in this collection, since MacDowell composed it in 1894 as a tone-poem for orchestra in the Lisztian manner, and then made this two-piano transcription rather than leaving the work to the kind of professional arranger habitually commissioned by publishers for such work. Nevertheless, he took the kind of care over it that Brahms did in arranging his symphonies, and the piano-duet version retains the brooding tension of the opening and effectively transfers the violinistic surges of Hamlet’s main section to the keyboard.

The album’s final collection takes a chronological leap forward to 1952, but its nostalgia-drenched mood belongs to an intermediate age. ‘One might imagine a divertissement in a setting of the Palm Court at the Plaza Hotel’, Barber explained in a letter to his publisher, ‘the year about 1914, epoch of the first tangos. Souvenirs – remembered with affection, not in irony or with tongue in cheek, but in amused tenderness.’ Barber, it should be noted, would have been four years old at the time, and so these are ‘souvenirs’ in the manner of sepia-tinted postcards.

His 15th album with Signum Classics, the Welsh pianist, Llŷr Williams, brings a profound musical intelligence to his work as soloist, accompanist and chamber musician. His new album of Robert Schumann works explores a selection of works that span a substantial part of Schumann’s life, including Papillons Op. 2 (written while he studied law at Leipzig University) all the way up to Faschingsschwank aus Wien published in 1841. Llŷr Williams’ long and successful collaboration with Signum Records includes the 8-disc box-set ‘A Schubert Journey’ (2020), the 12-volume ‘Beethoven Unbound’ (2018), a ‘Wagner Without Words’ double album (2014) and highlights from Liszt’s ‘Années de pèlerinage‘ (2012).

César Franck's only symphony came at a time when the French music world was seeking to rival the great Austro-German tradition. The 'darkness-to-light' narrative of the Symphony in D minor owes a debt to Beethoven and there is a unique power within its distinctive themes, innovative cyclic form, and general gravitas. Franck's student Ernest Chausson was no doubt inspired by his teachers thematic metamorphoses, but the anguished influence of the ever-present Wagner is also ever present.

The published score of Chausson's Symphony in B-flat includes many errors which conductor Jean-Luc Tingaud meticulously corrected after careful study of the composer's autograph manuscripts.

This album pays tribute to the singular world of Valentin Silvestrov, a composer whose music gently reaches out to the past while also resonating with the voices of such contemporaries as Leonid Hrabovsky, Alexander Knaifel, Arvo Part, and Andre Volkonsky. Curated and performed by pianist Alexei Lubimov, the recording unfolds like an intimate uninterrupted journey; a musical dialogue among friends and fellow spirits united by admiration and shared feelings. Silvestrov's Bagatelles form the heart of the album, not miniatures in the traditional sense, but fleeting moments of music. Each piece is open-ended, flowing into the next and forming a delicate chain that gradually reveals a shimmering, larger form. A deeply personal listening experience, this album invites the listener into a space where every sound feels like a whisper across time: thoughtful, luminous, and quietly profound.

'If you want to know who, for me, is the greatest living composer, I'll tell you without hesitation - it's Elgar, whom I place on the same level as my idols Beethoven and Brahms!' So said the great virtuoso Kreisler.' Nicolas Dautricourt continues: 'This Concerto, with it's unbridled lyricism and unique proportions, is an Everest for any violinist.' In this, his first recording for Channel Classics, the French violinist brings together three works by two English composers. In 1888, in the same year Elgar wrote the famous Salut d'amour for his fiancee Caroline Alice Roberts, Frederick Delius composed his Suite for Violin and Orchestra, one of his very first works. The Suite, which only received it's premiere in 1984, is heard here in this insightful arrangement by Frederic Chaslin for violin, piano and string quartet.

A young female singer in 17th-century Venice: she is a virtuoso and extremely charming, and the gentlemen of her select audience are at her feet. They call her the "Singing Venus". But Barbara Strozzi wants more: she regularly publishes her compositions – more than any woman before her. The new BR-KLASSIK audio biography tells her story.

Until the 20th century, female composers had a hard time in a male-dominated art. And in historiography for even longer: it was not until 1978 that a female American musicologist published the first specialist article on Barbara Strozzi. Today, it is generally accepted that she is one of the most important voices in the history of vocal chamber music. She is featured on a growing number of CDs, concert programmes and websites. However, although research has begun, a lively account of her life and work, accessible to a wider audience, has been lacking.

This audio biography brings together all the key documents and research that represent her – and also vividly introduces us to the unique cultural space in which the composer lived. The exuberance of Carnival, the development of the fledgling art of opera, and Venice - the"città galante"- are all linked to the phenomenon of"Barbara Strozzi" and her art. Listeners unfamiliar with this music are invited to rediscover lost treasures – and to get to know one of the great women of music history. Wiebke Puls, an actress at the Münchner Kammerspiele and a singer herself, lends her voice to Barbara Strozzi.

The Venetian Barbara Strozzi did not have to emancipate herself in order to be recognized as an artist and composer. And this, despite the fact that she-the illegitimate daughter of a maid and her lord-should, according to common estimation, have been happy to have amounted to "anything" at all. However, her father, himself a writer and full of wit in the true sense of the word, adopted her and ensured that she received a proper education. The rest was all down to this exceptionally talented young girl herself. The worthy student of the famous Francesco Cavalli could even afford to publish her works under her own name. She was a fixture in the cultural life of her city, which obviously took great pleasure in the extraordinarily emotional worlds of this intimate music. Listen and enjoy!

Mezzo-soprano Maria Laschinger (Basel, *1977) and pianist Olivia Zaugg (Bern, *1995) create their own creative-feminine space with the Blickwechsel format. Blickwechsel directs our attention, our awareness and our clairvoyance to great works by female composers who have so far received too little attention. In this album hange ich, zwischen Zeiten, the duo focuses on the compositions of the young composer Francesca Gaza, who lives in Basel, alongside songs by the English composers and women's rights activists Rebecca Clarke and Ethel Smyth, which have rarely been performed and recorded to date. The commissioned composition hange ich, zwischen Zeiten by Francesca Gaza with poems by Maria Laschinger was created in a lively exchange between the three musicians and was premiered at the Jazzcampus Basel in April 2022. Francesca Gaza, rich in broad musical influences and compositional virtuosity, has added another composition of artistic and social relevance to the duo's programme. The composer is particularly interested in exploring, combining and breaking up the roles of the piano and the voice.

The original 1971 Merry-Go-Down LP on Unicorn Records was the brainchild of the late Fred Tomlinson, former chairman of the Peter Warlock Society, to showcase Peter Warlock's extraordinary range of musical and literary knowledge and achievements. The Peter Warlock Society and Convivium Records consider the content and performances of the pioneering LP to be of such a high standard as to require re-release, and have facilitated it's reproduction on this delightful CD. Michael Graves, Chairman, Peter Warlock Society

With this programme, we want to show that these female composers - Josephine Lang and Ethel Smyth - can not only hold their own alongside an established and frequently performed song cycle by one of the "big names", Richard Strauss, but that their emotionality, quality and compositional accuracy are absolutely essential in the great canon of song literature, because that is where they undoubtedly belong, bringing a unique perspective and a message that is still far too little heard to this colourful genre in the most creative way. Duo Yvonne Prentki/Benedikt ter Braak

French Piano Trios - Trio Gaon Trio Gaon presents major works of French chamber music with compositions by Debussy, Ravel, Lili Boulanger and Francaix. This is a genre that does not really have a large selection of works to choose from as there were not many French composers who dedicated themselves to this form of instrumentation, something that can be explained by the historical development of music particular to France. More comfortable with opera, French composers belatedly began to turn to composing instrumental music in the middle of the 19th century in an effort to emancipate themselves from the predominance of the German and Austrian musical tradition, and thus from one of it's most important forms, that of the sonata.

Dutch cellist Lidy Blijdorp and pianist Tobias Borsboom, delve into the world of the Société Nationale de Musique in this programme of late-romantic and early modern French chamber music. César Franck's Sonata for Violin and Piano was transcribed, with the composer's approval, by Jules Delsart, Nadia Boulanger's Trois Pièces for cello and piano date from 1914, these lyrical and playfully virtuosic works are proof of the master pedagogue's extraordinary talent for composition. Debussy's Sonata for Cello and Piano conjures up images of nocturnal encounters, in a form and proportions that are almost classical, a performance of this Sonata in Amsterdam in 1918 after Debussy's death, inspired Dutch composer Matthijs Vermeulen to write a cello sonata of his own. Shortly after, Vermeulen moved to France, where he would work as a journalist and keep composing until after the Second World War, with seven symphonies and a wide array of chamber music works to his name, Blijdorp and Borsboom present Vermeulen's Sonate pour violoncelle et piano here.

This new large-scale setting of the Magnificat has been written as a companion piece to J.S. Bach’s famous setting (BWV 243). Although making use of a more contemporary musical language, it uses similar instrumentation, follows the same framework of chorus and solo movements, and makes use of a number of features that are typical of Bach’s music.

The internationally renowned pianist Yulianna Avdeeva presents Shostakovich's 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87, one of the most important works in the piano repertoire. This monumental cycle harks back to Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier and is considered one of the most demanding works for piano ever written. Avdeeva joins an elite group of pianists who have undertaken the challenge of performing the complete opus, which is rarely heard in it's entirety. To complement this iconic work, Avdeeva also presents the completion of an alternative Prelude and Fugue in C-Sharp Minor, discovered by leading Shostakovich expert Olga Digonskaya and completed by composer and Shostakovich biographer Krzysztof Meyer. Shostakovich sketched an initial prelude in C-Sharp Minor in 1950, but then decided to compose a new prelude-fugue pair in this key, which eventually found it's way into Opus 87. The sketch of the original prelude was found in the Shostakovich archive in Moscow in 2005; Krzysztof Meyer completed the fragment in 2019 and added his own fugue "in the style of Shostakovich". This discovery adds a new and exciting dimension to the cycle and will be an important part of the story behind the album.

Founded ten years ago, Ensemble Ouranos is now one of the best French wind quintets in the world. For this new recording, their first for Alpha Classics, Mathilde, Arnaud, Amaury, Philibert, Rafael and Nicolas have brought together composers and works that are particularly close to their hearts: Le Tombeau de Couperin glorifies the French wind school, and Shostakovich is their passion, so recording this transcription (by David Walter) of the famous quartet for the first time was at the top of their wish list. The two works have one thing in common: homage, since Ravel composed in tribute to his friends who died in the war, and Shostakovich to the victims of the Second World War. Another tribute - a lighter one - is paid to summer with Barber's superb Summer Music, the only original piece for wind quintet on this album. Added to this are Ravel's famous Pavane and an arrangement by Nicolas Ramez of the poignant Elegy from Lady MacBeth of Mtsensk

Dutch violinist Niek Baar joins the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie under the direction of Christoph Poppen to perform two classic violin concertos from the mid-19th century: Robert Schumann's Violin Concerto in D minor and Max Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor. Both of these violin concertos were written for the legendary Joseph Joachim, who had a hand in shaping the final form of both pieces, although ultimately his changes to the Schumann were rejected by the composer. The highly original, introverted and melancholic concerto is a moving self-portrait of the 43-year-old Schumann a few years before his death, and Bruch's No. 1 is one of the most beloved concertos of the entire repertoire.

In a follow-up to its extremely successful album Her Voice, the Neave Trio on A Room of Her Own once again champions the works of female composers. The only non-French composer on the album is Ethel Smyth whose Piano Trio, one of her earliest works, was composed in 1880. Like many of her works from this era, it shows a clear nod to the Austro-German influences of her studies in Leipzig, particularly of Brahms. Cecile Chaminade was born just a year before Smyth, and her First Piano Trio was written in the same year as Smyth’s. The Paris première was very well received by the critics, and the Trio was published a year later. Germaine Tailleferre’s Piano Trio began life in 1916 – 17 as a work in three movements, and then gathered dust for over sixty years, until a commission from France’s Ministère de la Culture, in 1978, enabled Tailleferre to revive and re-imagine it. By then in her mid-eighties, Tailleferre replaced the original second movement and added a fourth. The Trio is an excellent example of her compositional style – a voice that remained consistent though her long compositional career. Lili Boulanger’s D’un matin de printemps and D’un soir triste are perhaps now better known in their orchestral versions: this recording proves that the two pieces work equally well at either scale. As they are among the last compositions of her short life (she died of chronic illness at twenty-four), we are left to imagine what she might have written had she lived longer.

REVIEW:

These chamber works are still not in the mainstream. The Neave Trio put their case eloquently.

-- The Guardian (U.K.)

Dialogues by cellist Noemie Raymond and pianist Zhenni Li-Cohen present two monumental works composed by Sergei Rachmaninoff and Rebecca Clarke. The album centers around a pair of sonatas that the performers hold dear. It seeks to bridge two universes in conversations between two instruments, two musicians, and two composers. The performers write, "it is a dialogue between you and us." This album explores the duality of two titanic masterpieces, from the pen of a woman and a man, both virtuoso instrumentalists with strikingly distinct musical voices. Dialogues begins with Rachmaninoff's Cello Sonata in G minor, Op. 19, composed during his most prolific period alongside his famous Piano Concerto No. 2. Considered by some to be his most successful chamber work, Rachmaninoff dedicated the sonata to Anatoly Brandukov, his best man at his wedding and a celebrated Russian cellist who also premiered several of Tchaikovsky's works. Brandukov inspired Rachmaninoff to imbue the cello line with expressiveness and intensity. The album continues with Clarke's Viola Sonata (Version for Cello & Piano), composed in 1919. An internationally renowned violist, Clarke is often considered a proponent of "English Impressionism." Despite placing second in a prestigious composition competition, Clarke's works were not celebrated or performed as much as those of her male peers due to societal gender biases. It was not until the 1970s that Clarke emerged from obscurity, and this Sonata has since taken it's rightful place in the standard repertoire for viola. Noemie Raymond's diverse career has taken her from London's prestigious Royal Albert Hall to the Festival Internacional de Musica de Camara in Lima, the United States, Japan and beyond. She has collaborated with renowned virtuosos such as Midori, Pinchas Zukerman, Jan Lisiecki and Yekwon Sunwoo. 2024-2025 season marks Noemie's Carnegie Hall debut, and concerti appearances with the Skagit Symphony, the Orchestre symphonique de Sherbrooke and the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra. A prizewinner in national and international competitions, Noemie has forged her reputation by earning awards at the Edwin H. and Leigh W. Schadt String International Competition and the Prix d'Europe, among others. She is a graduate of the University of Montreal and the New England Conservatory, and holds a Doctorate in Performance and Literature from the Eastman School of Music. Noemie plays the "Ex-Curtis" cello (1700) by Matteo Goffriller, generously provided to her by Canimex Inc. Of Drummondville, Quebec. Hailed as "... an artist of tremendous conviction, who fascinates even as she provokes... " by Gramophone Magazine and "a thrillingly good pianist" by The New Yorker, Zhenni has given solo recitals at such prestigious venues as Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall, New York's Lincoln Center, Philadelphia's Kimmel Performing Arts Center and the Berliner Philharmonie in Germany. Zhenni is looking forward to her next recording project with Marin Alsop in collaboration with the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra and has appeared as a soloist with orchestras such as the Bergen Philharmonic in Norway, the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia and the Knoxville, Cedar Falls, Fairbanks, Bucks County, Dominican Republic, Johns Hopkins and Lower Merion Symphony Orchestras amongst others. She is currently the Associate Professor of Piano at University of Alberta and the co-artistic Director of Opus 71 Concerts, a multimedia concert series near New York's Lincoln Center. Zhenni Li-Cohen is a Steinway Artist. Get your CD copy of 'Dialogues' or listen to it on your favorite platform. 'Dialogues' is available on all major music services.

With their new CD "Hymne à l'amour"; the Duo Minerva once again shows how exciting and multifaceted classical music can sound. Their arrangements; woven with great artistry; their virtuosity and their exceptionally emotional style of music-making breathe fresh life into often-heard works. With a great deal of playfulness; the well-rehearsed duo moves between the most diverse genres and combines classical masterpieces with contemporary avant-garde; folk music and a pinch of the as yet unheard on the subject of love - entirely in Duo Minerva style.