Maria Briggs is joined on this album by pianist Drew Quiring, and violin/violist Limor Toren-immerman, where together they present a selection of songs by composers including Anton Rubinstein, Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Mikhail Glinka, and more. Dr. Briggs-Okunev is a Russian-born, Australian soprano. She earned her Bachelor degree in piano performance from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Dr. Briggs then attained Masters in vocal performance, Newcastle Conservatorium and DMA from Sydney University and Royal Northern College of Music, UK. Her research is focused on training and development of young opera singers. Her published thesis on tertiary opera training is available online.

The prize-winning Lars Hegaard (b. 1950) has, over more than 40 years, been an important voice in Danish musical life. Centered on the composer’s own instrument, the guitar, we present six of his most important works for small groups. With their refined modernist expressivity, they offer a fascinating picture of the guitar’s possibilities as a solo instrument, as accompanist and as the first amongst equals in chamber music. Lars Hegaard studied guitar with Ingolf Olsen (diploma 1973, music teaching degree 1977), and composition with Ib Nørholm (diploma 1980). He has also taken a music degree at the University of Copenhagen. In 1983 he was awarded a three-year working grant by the National Arts Foundation, and in 1992 the Sylvia and Poul Schierbeck Grant. In addition to that, he has since 1986 received annually working grants from the National Arts Foundation.

GAIGEROVA Suite for Viola and Piano. WINKLER 2 Pieces, op. 31. Viola Sonata in c. JUON Viola Sonata in D • Eliesha Nelson (va); Glen Inanga (pn) • SONO LUMINUS DSL-92136 (71:02)

Varvara Adrianovna Gaigerova studied with Heinrich Neuhaus, Georgy Catoire, and Nikolai Miaskovsky at the Moscow Conservatory. The same professors taught Dmitri Kabalevsky, Sviatoslav Richter, and Emil Gilels. Gaigerova eventually became one of the Bolshoi Theatre’s hard-working pianists. In her spare time, she composed works for piano and viola as well as a symphony on Kalmyk themes and songs setting texts by Pushkin. She lived in terribly troubled times. For reasons unknown to us, she stayed in Russia when everyone who could left for greener pastures in Europe and the Americas. We do not know what happened to her during World War II, only that she died in 1944, when she was a mere 40 years old.

Eliesha Nelson’s viola has a warm, cream-laden tone. When you hear her play Gaigerova’s sensuous, heartstoppingly beautiful music, you wonder why we have not heard these works before. The Suite for Viola and Piano has sonorities that remind one a little of Scriabin, although Gaigerova’s composition is not in the least derivative. It begins with a propulsive Allegro agitato that gradually transitions to a slower movement. It finishes with a fast-paced section and a plaintive finale. Nelson brings out the luminous textures of this music with her engaging artistry. Her pianist, Glen Inanga, who plays a Steinway concert grand, is a most skillful partner. His contributions add greatly to the value of this disc. So does the clear and immediate sound of Sono Luminus engineers Daniel Shores and Dan Merceruio.

Alexander Winkler’s Elegiac Meditation is a slow and deliberate piece that begins with harmonious double-stopping. The pace shows off the ability of this violist, whose legato is as smooth as an old-fashioned butterscotch sundae. The next track offers a complete change of mood. La Toupie (The Top) describes the spinning of that once common toy. The viola imitates the rhythmic revolutions of a spinning top or wheel and you can see it whirl in your mind’s eye. To some degree, it is reminiscent of earlier composers’ spinning wheels, but here it is much happier and it injects a needed bit of comic relief into the program. The C-Minor Sonata brings us back to earth with compelling and significant music that touches the inner recesses of the soul. In the concluding variations on a tune from Brittany, the composer takes a beautiful folk tune and displays it in various guises: fast, slow, light, heavy, etc. It’s fun to listen to and you will notice that this finely crafted work is played with accuracy and precision.

Paul Juon is sometimes called the Russian Brahms and is thought to be a link between Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky. His D-Major Sonata brings us a glimpse of rare Northern European sunshine. Nelson and Inanga bring out its uplifting melody with a forward motion that keeps the tension tight. Svetlana Stepchenko and Zoya Abolitz recorded this piece on a Russian disc in 1998, but it is no longer easy to find. In any case, there is no need to look for a better rendition than the one by Nelson and Inanga.

FANFARE: Maria Nockin

Ispirare consists of contemporary music for viola and the pieces that inspired their creation. These works were chosen not only because they are engaging to perform and listen to, but also for their capacity to provide a creative spark for other composers.

Violist Melia Watras has distinguished herself as one of her instrument’s leading voices. A soloist, chamber musician, recording artist and composer, Watras has commissioned, premiered and recorded numerous new compositions, while appearing at venues such as Carnegie Hall, Weill Recital Hall, and Alice Tully Hall. Ispirare is her fourth solo CD, adding to an expanding discography that also includes 14 chamber music recordings.

Early in his career, George Rochberg was one of America’s leading proponents of serialism, but began to change course in the mid-1960s. The tragic death of his son contributed to this period of artistic change, and Rochberg broke from pure serialism in an effort to find a more personal expression through music. This album features his stunning “Sonata” for viola. 

Melia has been a long-time admirer of the amazing music of Shulamit Ran, and approached her with the idea of writing a new work influenced by an existing composition, which culminated in the beautiful “Perfect Storm.” Shulamit’s choice to pair her piece with Berio’s Black is the color… from “Folk Songs,” led Melia to Naturale. 

Luciano Berio reinvents American, Armenian, Azerbaijani and Italian folk tunes in his 1964 song cycle, “Folk Songs,” for mezzo-soprano and a small chamber group. Black is the color… has traditional lyrics with a melody written by Kentucky folk singer and composer John Jacob Niles.

The Dalí Quartet is acclaimed for bringing Latin American quartet repertoire to an equal standing alongside the Classical and Romantic canon. In addition to works of the masters from Haydn to Brahms and Amaya to Piazzolla, the group's adventurous and entertaining programming includes new works for quartet with percussionist Orlando Cotto, and quintets both Latin and Classical with the renowned clarinetist Ricardo Morales, principal clarinetist of The Philadelphia Orchestra, and with acclaimed pianist Vanessa Perez. The Dalí Quartet has an ongoing collaboration with the Van Cliburn Competition’s gold-medal winning pianist Olga Kern, with whom they have toured from coast to coast and recorded the piano quintets of Brahms and Shostakovich released on the Delos label. The Dalí Quartet is the 2021 recipient of Chamber Music America's Guarneri String Quartet Residency, funded by the Sewell Family Foundation, and the 2021 Silver Medal at the inaugural Piazzolla Music Competition.

“The music is really wonderful, and the choice of specific works is brilliant, precisely because it brings to light so much about what was going on inside Gibbs at two really difficult times in his life. These are set alongside works that include an intimate gesture of friendship and gratitude to Ralph Vaughn Williams, as well as music that was published and heard by audiences in Gibbs’s lifetime. It’s very effective to have all these aspects of the composer portrayed in this way.” Nicholas Riddle (Musicologist)

Prague-born, Hans Sitt (1850–1922) enjoyed a decades-long career as a conductor, pedagogue, violinist, composer, editor, and arranger in France and Germany. As with his arrangements, which include the complete Beethoven and Schumann symphonies for violin and piano, many of Sitt’s original compositions were written to benefit students and amateurs. These compositions, firmly rooted in the German Romantic tradition, were praised for their pleasing melodies and solid craftsmanship.

Perhaps Sitt’s most progressive compositional approach was in his treatment of the viola as a solo instrument. After decades of neglect by both performers and composers, the viola began to see stirrings of life toward the end of the nineteenth century, and Sitt made valuable contributions to the instrument’s revival.

Composed with an accompaniment for orchestra or piano, the Romance, Op. 72, differs from his earlier works with orchestral accompaniment—the Concertstück and Viola Concerto—both of which rely more heavily on virtuosic devices. Here, lyricism reigns supreme, with the inherently vocal nature of the viola fully on display.

The set of three Fantasiestücke, op. 58 (1894)  is serious in tone and harmonically complex with each movement displaying a high degree of chromaticism.

Given its origin as a piece for solo violin, it is not surprising that the Romanze, Op. 102/1, makes extended use of the viola’s upper register. The work also features fancy passagework of sixteenth notes, a favorite virtuosic device of Sitt’s.

The opening Elegie of the 3 Morceaux, Op. 75, in the somber key of F minor, turns to the major mode in the piece’s concluding moments. After a serene opening, Rêverie is disrupted by a stormier middle section, though the viola soon returns to its dreamlike musings. As a further study in contrasts, the concluding Barcarole starts off in rather turbulent manner (set in the key of G minor) before finally encountering calm waters.

The Gavotte and Mazurka, Op. 132, as the final works that Sitt composed for viola, these lighthearted dance movements demonstrate his skill at writing music in diverse styles and for different markets.

His admiration for his predecessors (notably Schumann) can be heard throughout the Albumblätter, op. 39, as he presents charming scenes of great beauty (No. 1), wistfulness (No. 2), and melancholy (No. 5). The contrasting sections of the third piece (No. 3) are suggestive of his Czech heritage, while the rhythmic complexities of the following piece (No. 4) provide variety and disorient the listener. In the final movement (No. 6), the viola’s opening whirlwind of eighth notes gives way to a 'dolce' middle section (with the eighth notes transferred to the piano) before returning to the dramatic opening material. Sitt forgoes a flashy ending by reining things in during the final eight measures, coyly returning to music from the middle section.

One of Sitt’s most enduring compositions is also among his most virtuosic concert works, the Concertstück, op. 46 (1892). Taken together with his Viola Concerto, Op. 68, these works feature beautiful cantilena lines, effective use of the viola’s various registers, and minimal use of double stops, and would have have been well suited to amateurs and students alike.

Ann Marie Brink has served as Associate Principal Viola of the Dallas Symphony for two decades. Pianist Marta Aznavoorian is known for her inspiringly spirited playing and vast emotional reach.

Composer Eric Richards approached listening as an embodied activity, an amalgamation of the auditory, psychological, and emotional experience we have hearing artistic sound. This album, produced by Andy Kozar and Jeffrey Gavett, features several of Richards's entrancing chamber works performed by Ekmeles, loadbang, Gavett, and Kozar as well as a host of New York based freelancers, and shines a light on a composer whose poetic approach to compositional, observation, and technology has been widely overlooked previously.

These premiere recordings of viola concertos written especially for Brett Deubner are by two leading American composers whose appealing styles are full of engaging melodies and vital rhythms. Amanda Harberg's Concerto for Viola and Orchestra meditates upon soaring flight and the fragility of life, concluding with joyful energy and syncopation. Her Elegy commemorates a beloved music teacher. Inspired by tales from around the world, Max Wolpert's work draws on ancient traditions of music and storytelling. His Viola Concerto No. 1 ''Giants'' gazes at the lost magic of a distant past, calling up singing harps, dancing storm clouds, and a fiendishly ticking clock inexorably counting down to the end of the world.

This recording of Mozart chamber music can be listened to as a pleasant private concert "en famille". The choice of the works is dictated solely by the specific instruments played by the three family members: violin, viola and keyboard. This is not a usual instrumentation in the chamber music repertoire, yet it is this combination that has given rise to a pleasantly varied program - thanks to Mozart's inexhaustible genius! This cleverly thought out program features four pieces with different instrumentations and moods in order to elicit a constant interest and pleasure from the listener. The Kuijkens Trio plays with their unmistakable understanding, tenderness, and tone color; a constant delight throughout the album.

Christian Euler dares to do what not many dare to do: he performs an entire hour of music for viola solo, without accompaniment. Euler’s full, warm, and highly nuanced tone echoes through this demanding, yet entertaining program presenting some classics as well as several rarities. Alfred Pochon’s Passacaglia was composed as a competition piece. Bach’s great Chaconne for violin solo is recognizably its model, even in detail, and yet Pochon, who celebrated considerable successes as a chamber musician during the first decades of the twentieth century, finds a genuinely authentic tone for the viola. Euler’s intense and rich treatment of tone transforms this work, which Pochon must have composed merely on the side, into a very special, opulent sound experience. Reger too – how could it be otherwise? – followed Bach’s example and wrote a special recommendation for the viola with a total of three Solo Suites for this instrument. Christian Euler of course masters the immense technical demands with bravura. Moreover, even though the texture repeatedly is bold harmonically, his musical realization of it is very discerning, very much to the advantage of these underestimated gems. And of course Hindemith – the viola was his instrument of instruments! Ambitious in tonality, he nevertheless followed classical models until the mid-twentieth century. This release reaches a special high point with Stravinsky’s Elegy, which is strictly maintained in a two-part texture and yet stylistically is situated at a very far remove from Bach or Reger. Here Stravinsky ventures into an entirely new sound cosmos displaying its unique magic particularly in the three-dimensional sound world of this Super Audio recording transmitting the finest acoustic impressions.

Whilst the English composer Edmund Rubbra is best known for his symphonic output, he composed a good deal of vocal music, and wrote songs throughout his compositional life. Rubbra studied with Cyril Scott and Gustav Holst, and was a great friend of his contemporary Gerald Finzi. The songs are notable for their variation in accompaniment (less than half are set for piano, the rest for harp, string quartet, string orchestra, or full orchestra). This album contains all his published songs with piano and harp accompaniment, and includes the first and last songs of the composer’s output. Lucy Crowe, Claire Barnett-Jones, and Marcus Farnsworth are the three singers on the album, Catrin Finch (harp) and Iain Burnside (piano) the accompanists. Timothy Ridout (viola) joins for the Two Sonnets by William Alabaster, Op. 87.

CONTENTS:

• Rubbra: Rosa Mundi, Op. 2
• Rubbra: Cradle Song, Op. 8 No. 1
• Rubbra: Nod
• Rubbra: Orpheus with his Lute, Op. 8 No. 2
• Rubbra: Who is Silvia? Op. 8 No. 3
• Rubbra: Out in the dark, Op. 13 No. 1
• Rubbra: It was a lover, Op. 13 No. 3
• Rubbra: The Night, Op. 14
• Rubbra: Rune of Hospitality
• Rubbra: A Duan of Barra
• Rubbra: A Widow Bird Sate Mourning, Op. 28
• Rubbra: A Prayer
• Rubbra: Songs (2), Op. 22
• Rubbra: In Dark Weather, Op. 33
• Rubbra: Invocation to Spring, Op. 17 No. 2
• Rubbra: Two Sonnets by William Alabaster
• Rubbra: Songs (2), Op. 4
• Rubbra: A Hymn to the Virgin, Op. 13 No. 2
• Rubbra: The Jade Mountain, Op. 116
• Rubbra: Nocturne, Op. 54
• Rubbra: Salve, Regina, Op. 119
• Rubbra: No Swan So Fine, Op. 91
• Rubbra: Fly Envious Time, Op. 148
• Rubbra: Psalms (3), Op. 61
• Rubbra: Dear Liza, Op. 7

REVIEW:

Soprano Lucy Crowe and baritone Marcus Farnsworth sing with tonal beauty, clear diction, and great sensitivity for the music and text. Pianist Iain Burnside is a marvelous collaborator, as are harpist Catrin Finch and violist Timothy Ridout. The booklet includes complete song texts and superb liner notes by Jonathan Clinch. [Rubbra] his songs are the product of a thoughtful and sensitive composer, and well worth exploration.

-- Fanfare

Alex Weiser's latest recording, the follow-up to his Pulitzer Prize-nominated and all the days were purple, is a love letter to New York City. Featuring acclaimed singer Annie Rosen with a seven-piece chamber ensemble, the album comprises two song cycles that explore the city from complementary perspectives. The first cycle, in a dark blue night, features five settings of Yiddish poetry written by newly arrived immigrants in the late 1800s and early 1900s. These poems reflect on the city at night — glowing, quiet, majestic.

It's followed by Coney Island Days, told through the recorded memories of Weiser's late grandmother. It features vivid, buoyant adventures about childhood in the bustling immigrant world of Coney Island in the 1930s and 40s — days at the beach, at the family's knish store, at the Russian baths and much more. "My grandmother grew up in Brooklyn spending summers in Coney Island, living with her family in a single room behind their knish store," Weiser says. "Hers was a multilingual world where she was taught English at school, but where her Yiddish-speaking parents could barely understand the language of their new land."

Together the two cycles celebrate the marvel and multiplicity of New York City, through a look at a little-explored chapter of its history.