Cellist Ani Aznavoorian and pianist Marta Aznavoorian, each a renowned soloist and chamber musician in her own right, together celebrate the sounds of their ancestral homeland on Gems from Armenia. The album marks the Chicago-raised sisters’ recording debut as the Aznavoorian Duo. Their panoramic survey of Armenian classical music opens with ancient folk songs arranged with haunting harmonies by early 20th-century Orthodox priest, composer, and musicologist Komitas Vardapet. The Armenian musical renaissance of the Soviet era finds expression in Aram Khachaturian’s glorious ode to his hometown of Yerevan; Arno Babajanian’s impassioned tribute to his mentor Kachaturian; the early Sonata for Cello and Piano by Avet Terterian, whose admirers included Dmitri Shostakovich; and the Impromptu of Alexander Arutiunian, winner of many Soviet and Armenian musical honors and awards. Contemporary voices include Serouj Kradjian, whose “Sari Siroun Yar” is an arrangement of an Armenian troubadour love song. Vache Sharafyan’s Petrified Dance is haunted by the memory of Armenian soldiers lost in recent battles. American Peter Boyer’s Mount Ararat, commissioned for this project and receiving its world-premiere recording, evokes the snow-capped twin peaks of Biblical fame central to Armenian national and religious identity.

The celebrated violinist Francesca Dego is joined by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and her regular collaborator Dalia Stasevska for this recording of the violin concertos by Brahms and Busoni.

A cornerstone of the repertoire, Brahms’s Concerto dates from 1878, a year after the Second Symphony, and was composed for (and dedicated to) the virtuoso Joseph Joachim. The Concerto takes the standard three-movement form, and as in Beethoven’s Concerto (considered by many as Brahms’s inspiration for the work) the first movement is significant in its length and its complexity.

Busoni’s Violin Concerto in its turn is inspired by both Brahms and Beethoven, and like both previous works it is in the key of D major. Premièred in Berlin in 1897 by the Dutch violinist Henri Petri, the Concerto is dazzlingly virtuosic. Francesca Dego writes: ‘To be able to record Brahms’s Violin Concerto is a dream and a milestone for every violinist and I feel that with “my” Brahms I do not want to compete with the many gorgeous versions out there but instead to declare my own love and history with my favorite violin concerto. Busoni’s Concerto, however, is a rarely performed work, brought to the studio only a handful of times. It represents a different kind of responsibility, one that pushed me to want to rediscover every detail of this music as if it had never been played before.’

Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 5; Fantasia On A Theme By Tho

Robert Spano, newly appointed Music Director for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, selects music that showcases the orchestra and it's principal players for his thrilling debut disc recording on DSD sound!

Honegger: Le Roi David

Quatuor pour la fin du temps

One of the major 19th century Danish composers, Lange-Müller wrote mainly vocal music and relatively fewer instrumental works. There is, however quite a big collection of piano works which Lange-Müller wrote for his daughter who was an ardent player. Pianist of The Copenhagen Trio, Morten Mogensen has begun recording the complete collection. On this first volume (three in total), Soft Melodies Op. 68 and In Memoriam are the premier recordings.

Romantic Choir Music

Bach’s contemporary German lute virtuoso and composer Weiss left a huge literature for lute. Lutenist Viggo Mangor has studied his instrument and music at the Royal Academy of Music in Copenhagen and at the Schola Cantorum in Basel. Unlike most of the early music instruments which are copies of the original instruments, the lute recorded here is the 17th century original piece.

The Dinitzen-Westenholz duo started their collaboration three years ago. Their first CD Kontrapunkt 32172 “R. Strauss/Brahms/Schumann” enjoyed public and critical acclaim. For their second recording they concentrated on the works by Fauré which enhanced Dinitzen’s elegant and simple style with rich sonority attentively accompanied by Westenholz.

Dyveke's Songs & Romances

This CD is a historical sequel to “The Danish Golden Age-Works for Mixed Choir a cappella” KPT 32068 documenting the rather forgotten period of the first three decades of the 20th century. The works presented here are by the Romantic composers who, in spite of the high quality of their achievement, sunk into obscurity due to the reformist movement in that period initiated by Carl Nielsen.

One of the most unusual combination of instruments in Mozart compositions, the basset horn trio are played here by the members of Odense Symphony Orchestra with whom Kontrapunkt has produced complete series of Carl Nielsen symphonies and Ib Nørholm symphonies.

Richard Strauss, Sergei Rachmaninov: Cello Works

Following the highly successful CD of Sofia Gubaidulina’s cello works (32176), Henrik Brendstrup one of Europe’s best cellists of the younger generation recorded here a collection of cello works by the three representative composers from Eastern Europe. His new partner on piano is a young Gislinge who only two years after her debut has already established herself as one of the leading soloists in Europe.

Piano works by Charles Griffes (1883-1920) have not been recorded by many, in spite of their striking beauty and strength. Denmark’s leading pianist Poul Rosenbaum who specialises in performing contemporary works interprets here all solo piano works by this great American composer. Rosenbaum studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Music and the Juilliard School. He made his debut in New York in 1978.

For Denmark’s leading flautist Toke Lund Christiansen, French flute music has become a major part of his repertoire. His earlier releases include “Jacques Ibert: Chamber Music With Flute” (32202) and “La Flute Parisienne” (32186). Christiansen’s outstanding technique and delicate musicality suit Roussel perfectly. This release is the first complete collection of Roussel’s flute music in the chamber settings.

Works For Flute And Piano

Sonatas

Franz Syberg (1904-1955)’s hitherto unknown material are still being discovered and even the known material are dispersed in the public music library or private collections. But it may not be so surprising for a composer who died at the age of only 51 and whose house was completely destroyed in a devastating fire prior to his death that the archive of his compositions is yet to be organised. This second volume of chamber works includes newly found String Trio, Syberg’s most popular work whose score has been lost since his death.

The First Bass of the Royal Opera Aage Haugland marked the 100th appearance at New York’s Metropolitan Opera a few years ago. He performs all major cities’ opera houses with prominent conductors e.g. Ozawa, Abbado, Solti, Maazel a.o. Here on his second CD on Kontrapunkt. Haugland accompanied by Jens E. Christensen sings and recites hymns by the famous 18th century Danish poet H.A. Brorson.

Young Danish composer Lars Klit (b. 1965) was commissioned to write an opera suited for an alternative opera company called Den Anden Opera (The Other Opera) which has a small “opera house” in the central part of Copenhagen. It is “the other” opera than the traditional establishment of the Royal Opera House. The work is played by five singers and a small chamber ensemble including electric guitar. It turned out to be a huge success right from the premier appealing to a wide range of audiences from the traditional opera lovers to the young rock’n rollers.

Requiem, 5 Motets

Summer Music

Australian born, Israeli by nationality, clarinettist Ron Chen-Zion has been a member of the premier Danish chamber group Esbjerg Ensemble since 1991. Chen-Zion is a graduate of the New England Conservatory and was appointed principal clarinettist of the State of Mexico Symphony Orchestra in 1990. The following season he moved to Europe to join Esbjerg Ensemble and since then Ron Chen-Zion has been one of the most sought after soloists throughout Europe. For his debut CD as soloist Ron Chen-Zion chose the complete clarinet works by Max Reger, not very often recorded repertoire, accompanied by his regular duo partner, pianist Roglit Ishay from Israel.