Classical
10388 products
Scarlatti: Mandolin Sonatas
Rains / Various
Falvetti: Il diluvio universale
Treasures of the German Baroque
Aharonián: Una carta
Schubert: String Quartets Nos. 12 & 15
OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE
Couperin: Les muses Naissantes / Sailly, De Negri, La Chambre Claire
Meister der Dresdner Kirchenmusik
Imaginario: De un libro de música de vihuela
Scharwenka: Piano Music, Vol. 1 / Pipa
As composer, pianist and educationalist, the Prussian Philipp Scharwenka (1847–1917) was one of most highly respected musicians of his day, although his star faded soon after his death. His music – more conservative and classical in orientation than that of his pianist-composer brother, Xaver – sits somewhere between Chopin and Brahms, with echoes of Schubert and Schumann. This first installment of a survey of his piano music is intended to put these immediately attractive works before the public once again – for the first time in over a century. They are played here by the Portuguese pianist-composer Luís Pipa, professor of piano and chamber music at the University of Minho, near Porto, following up on his well-received Toccata Classics album of music by his compatriot José Vianna da Motta.
EN SEUMEILLANT
The Night of Saint Nicholas / La Reverdie, I Cantori Gregoriani
Winter feasts like the Latin Saturnalia and the Germanic Yule, airborne gift-giving figures like the Norse Odinn Jólnir, the Slavic Ded Moroz, the Dutch Sinterklaas: from time immemorial December skies have been rather busy. Pagan patterns were readapted to Christianity – and a canonised bishop from fourth-century Asia Minor, Nikolaos, whose feast occurred near the winter solstice, merged with another bearded benefactor. Wotan’s hood and Nicholas’s mitre were mixed up, and by the nineteenth century Santa Claus was ready to don new red and white robes and to deliver toys on both sides of the Atlantic. The pieces on this recording (mainly from a thirteenth-century English manuscript) belong to the liturgy for the eve of the Feast of St Nicholas: they allude to his picturesque feats, such as the rescue of three needy maidens or the taming of a storm. Readings and additional songs come from the repertory associated with this widely popular saint, celebrated throughout the Middle Ages from Italy to Iceland. Originally released in 1998, this joint performance by La Reverdie and Cantori Gregoriani received enthusiastic reviews in several music magazines: ‘For those who want to enjoy some of the best liturgical singing this is highly recommended’ (Early Music, 1999).
Cinema per Archi
Alfabeto Falso
Ravel: Piano Works
Milhaud & Martinu: Complete Works for String Trio / Jacques Thibaud String Trio
There are several parallels to be found in the lives of the Southern French composer Darius Milhaud (1892-1974) and the Moravian-Bohemian composer Bohuslav Martinu (1890-1959). Both needed the metropolis of Paris, that seething artistic melting pot after the First World War, in order to refine their originality; both were open to all kinds of musical styles, from South American folklore to North American jazz through to Bachian counterpoint; finally, both had to flee the Germans in France in 1940, heading for the USA - Milhaud on account of being a Jew, and Martinu as a patriotic Czech in exile. The two composers' complete works for string trio, contrasted here for the first time, uncover various similarities - even though each work bears the hallmarks of its composer, and Martinu's trios were written in Paris, whilst Milhaud did not compose his until he had reached America. The works are characterised by a playful, spirited tone as well as the charm of Mediterranean and Czech folk tunes. But there is also what Milhaud termed, and valued, as "discipline" in chamber music: strict counterpoint and technical skill - utilised radically, without slipping into dry pedantry. These are four marvels of intimate music-making, assembled by the Jacques Thibaud Trio with their own artistic instinct and flair.
Winterberg: Piano Music, Vol. 1 / Helbig
Finzi: Cello Concerto, Eclogue, New Year Music, Etc / Lortie, Watkins, Davis, BBC Symphony
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REVIEW:
Sir Andrew Davis’s feeling for the composer’s sensitive, harmonically conservative language is abundantly clear in these vivid readings with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Soloists too are well chosen. Cellist Paul Watkins proves a master of expressing powerful feelings through the prism of British reserve. Admirers of Finzi’s music can buy without hesitation.
– BBC Music Magazine
REQUIEM
Music of French Masters
Wiren: Orchestral Works / Gamba, Iceland Symphony
Bright and lively music from the Swedish composer Dag Wiren is unveiled here in surround-sound by the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and Rumon Gamba, only a few years after the completion of their Grammy-nominated and highly acclaimed series devoted to the neglected orchestral treasures of Vincent d’Indy. In this unique recording Gamba uses the large body of a full symphonic string section, rather than the somewhat smaller-scale chamber orchestra setup that has tended to be used for this music in the past. The effect is a more complete expression of the wit and strength of these works. Designed to ‘entertain and amuse,’ as the composer put it in a note, the widely popular Serenade for Strings is here given an even more brilliant and powerful touch. Other, lesser-known works on the album similarly showcase a composer of fascinating range, who could write light and humorous pieces such as the Sinfonietta and the lively Symphony No. 3, as well as powerful rhythmical, and serious works, of which the later Divertimento is an example.
Nordic Voices Sing Victoria
The Norwegian six-member a cappella group, Nordic Voices here presents the extraordinary polyphonic music of Tomas Luis de Victoria, a Spanish composer whose music has continued to move people for more than 400 years, crossing geographical, cultural, and even religious barriers. This surround-sound recording comes ten years after a "warm, consistent and moving" (BBC Music) album of Lamentations, which featured pieces by sixteenth-century composers, including Four Lessons by Victoria. Examples of the composer's exceptional output, characterized by a careful setting of the text and an ability to control texture by a constant grouping and regrouping of different voices, here meet the artistic resourcefulness, versatility, technical precision, and freshness of the young ensemble.
Lucerne Festival Historic Performances, Vol. 11: Carl Schuri
Saint-Saens, Grieg & Liszt: Piano Works / Freire
This new release features Saint-Saëns' Second Piano Concerto with Nelson Freire under the baton of AdAm Fischer. Not many pianists are able to accomplish the stylistic and technical challenges of this concerto, demanding complete precision in fingering and leaps, as well as perfect command of the "jeu perlé": Nelson Freire masters this work with great aplomb, quiet assurance and, at times, a twinkle in his eye. He is completely committed and happy to take risks, triggering veritable "Sturm und Drang", and always congenially accompanied by AdAm Fischer. Twenty years previously, the Brazilian pianist (then aged 22) had made his German radio debut with a recital programme which he recorded at the RIAS's Lankwitz studio in Berlin. In Grieg's Lyric Pieces and the Hungarian Rhapsodies Nos 5 and 10 by Liszt, as well as his Polonaise in E major, Freire not only demonstrated his stupendous manual prowess, but also what was already at that stage his extraordinary touch and stylistic confidence. These early solo recordings anticipate his brilliant later style, completing the picture of the exceptional pianist. All recordings on this album are released for the first time.
