This recording, although relatively new, is one of the rarest gems in the Supraphon archives. After the initial positive reactions the extraordinary quality of the recording was confirmed by prestigious Gramophone Awards; in addition to winning the chamber music category, the young ensemble also brought home from London the top prize: Recording of the Year. Eight years after the first edition, Supraphon is releasing this delicacy for true audiophiles. Dvorák’s mature works perhaps best mirror the ensemble’s extraordinary qualities: the equilibrium between precision and spontaneity, the remarkable ensemble playing, and the solo potential of all of the individual players. At the end of the draft of his Quartet Op. 96, Antonín Dvorák wrote the comment: “I’m satisfied; it went quickly…” Soon after the “New World Symphony”, he composed one of the most beautiful of all string quartets while still in America – and the critics were unsparing in their praise. For the Pavel Haas Quartet, both the “American” Quartet and the following Quartet Op. 106, the first work composed after the composer’s return home from America, are literally affairs of the heart. According to the Sunday Times: “In this repertoire, they are simply matchless today.” Dvorák might even have written his comment “I’m satisfied” about this recording as well.

Giovanni Benedetto Platti was born in northern Italy and spent some of his youth in Venice, where his father was a violetta player at St Mark’s, before he received his court appointment as an oboist and violinist at the court chapel of Würzburg in 1722. Two years later, the music-loving and cello-playing count of Schönborn, Rudolf Franz Erwein, had managed to secure him as a musician for his own household at his small residence in the county of Wiesentheid. Platti composed - in addition to his ordinary ouptut for worldly and spiritual occasions - for the cello, the Count’s favourite instrument: a dozen sonatas, 28 concerti, 6 duets and over 21 trio sonatas in which the two melodic instruments are not playing at the same height. The music collection of the counts of Schönborn-Wiesentheid very probably consists of Erwein’s personal music library and is today an important historical music archive. Radio Antiqua present in partly world premiere six trio sonatas from that collection, which the count could presumably have played with Platti.

This release showcases Jeroen Berwaerts' musical versatility on several levels: he developed the concept of this album, performs as a trumpet soloist and jazz vocalist and directs the ensemble. Jeroen Berwaerts and Salaputia Brass prove congenial partners on the same wavelength. The Belgian musician does not believe in genre boundaries. He performs early music equally naturally as he does new music or jazz. No matter how diverse the musical styles, Berwaerts always looks for, and finds, one element in particular - a soulful profundity. "Signals from Heaven" combines spirituals and spiritual music by Takemitsu, Gabrieli, Monteverdi, Gershwin and Ellington. Historically, stylistically and geographically speaking, these musical styles could hardly be further apart. Listening carefully, however, it becomes apparent how close they can be. Defying the confines of epochs, continents and genres, they form a new harmony. This search for a soulful profundity in music unites all participating artists, as well as the aim of connecting people through music. Jeroen Berwaerts' concept does not represent "crossover" but a combination of voices which have something to say to one another. And they do - the concept is audibly successful.

Franziska Pietsch's recent recording of the Prokofiev Violin Concertos with large-scale orchestra is followed seemingly by the opposite: works for solo violin. What appears, at first sight, to be a contrast is in fact a logical continuation of her extensive discography, even an enhancement: whilst in her previous releases, Pietsch demonstrated her expressive range and intensive approach both as a brilliant soloist and as an eloquent chamber musician, she now faces the greatest possible reduction, namely a solo recital. This limitation demands incredible presence, power and intensity, for which Franziska Pietsch is predestined. From isolation, she draws depth and grounding; "less" becomes "more"; soleness transforms into greatness. For her solo recital, she has put together an individual choice of compositions which have accompanied her from an early age and which, for her, represent significant personal and artistic experiences. Prokofiev, to whose works she feels a particular affinity, is also featured here. Once again, Franziska Pietsch displays a compelling combination of technique and interpretation: her irrepressible creative force penetrates all technical challenges, never losing sight of her interpretation, every note forming part of her reading - a deeply personal recording of the solo sonatas by Bart�k, Ysa�e and Prokofiev. Bart�k's solo sonata, written for Yehudi Menuhin in 1944, and the six sonatas Op. 27 by Ysa�e are amongst the most prominent twentieth century compositions for violin. Bach, the great paragon, is present in all these works. From Ysa�e's cycle, Pietsch has chosen the particularly striking Sonatas Nos 2 and 3 which are dedicated respectively to the violinists Jacques Thibaud and George Enescu. As an "encore" she plays the solo sonata Op. 115 by Sergei Prokofiev which had been intended for ambitions violin students.

The innovative changes that characterize musical instrument making at the beginning of the 19th century reflect the increasing technical demands of composers as well as the needs of musicians striving for perfection and the audiences’ insatiable thirst for novelty. The harpsichord, which had definitely fallen out of favor because of its limited musical expression, was now superseded by the pianoforte. The range of the new instrument was expanded and in order to enhance its expressive possibilities, pedals were added to modify its tone color and timbre. Another instrument also underwent a rapid evolution: the transverse flute. The famous flute-maker Johann Georg Tromlitz developed a new key system that allowed flute players to perform with greater velocity, produce a pleasant, even tone and optimize intonation across the full range of the instrument. As to the cello, innovation affected not so much its construction as its role: the instrument gradually freed itself from playing a supporting role to the piano and became an equal partner in the ensemble, engaging in dialogue with the other instruments in its own right. And so this combination of instruments – flute, cello and piano – was now ready to establish itself in the chamber music genre. This release explores those first chamber works, and includes pieces by Carl-Maria von Weber, Friedrich Kuhlau, and Carl Czerny.

The music of the American composer David Felder (*1953) is often related to esoteric, mystical, spiritual or philosophical themes. These are particularly evident in his more recent works. The Arditti Quartet enjoys a world-wide reputation for their spirited and technically refined interpretations of contemporary and earlier 20th century music. Many hundreds of string quartets and other chamber works have been written for the ensemble since it's foundation by first violinist Irvine Arditti in 1974. Many of these works have left a permanent mark on 20th century repertoire and have given the Arditti Quartet a firm place in music history. World premieres of quartets by composers such as Abrahamsen, Ades, Andriessen, Aperghis, Birtwistle, Britten, Cage, Stockhausen, Xenakis and hundreds more show the wide range of music in the Arditti Quartet's repertoire.

Hanno Donneweg writes of his new release: “For many years, one of my heartfelt desires has been to expand the bassoon repertoire. I think this wonderful instrument deserves to draw on a more extensive body of works. […] The bassoon was very frequently favoured by composers of the Baroque period, but this interest significantly waned during the Romantic era. […] Two years ago, Andreas N. Tarkmann and I teamed up with Coviello to make a recording of solo works for bassoon and orchestra from the German-speaking world. We have now turned our attention to French compositions from the last 150 years.” Hanno Donneweg, born in 1977, took his first bassoon lessons at age nine with Horst Wartha, along with chamber music instruction from Bernd Rimbrecht at the Jugendmusikschule in St. Georgen im Schwarzwald, Germany. Between 1995 and 1998, Donneweg was a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Germany and Jeunesse Musicale International. Since 1999 he has been a scholarship recipient of the Deutschen Musikwettbewerb and a member of the Bundesauswahl Konzerte junger Kunstler. Since August 2002, Donneweg has been solo bassoonist with the Radio Symphony Orchestra Stuttgart.

The first recording of the David Oistrakh Quartet received much praise from the press ("No sooner formed, this young quartet already reaches excellence.") Achieving comparison with the Borodin and the Beethoven Quartets, this young group offers an impassioned performance of Grieg and Mendelssohn: a powerful, contrasted, physical and always subtly emotional performance. The David Oistrakh Quartet features today's most outstanding Russian musicians. In 2012 the family of the legendary 20th century violinist honored the quartet with his name. Over the years, artistic friendship and a passion for the art of the quartet brought the young soloists and the grand masters of quartet together to form this extraordinary ensemble. All four musicians play on exemplary Italian instruments made by Antonio Stradivari, Niccolo Amati, and Francesco Ruggeri.

London born soprano Nancy Storace was a good friend of both W.A. Mozart and J. Haydn. During her stay in Vienna she performed in about 20 operas, including the world premiere of Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro (with Benucci in the title role), among other things. The role was particularly written for her. But also Salieri, Paisiello and Martin y Soler wrote works, which were literally made for her as well. On the basis of some of these arias, Marie-Sophie Pollack and the Accademia di Monaco draw a portrait of the singer, which gives information on the operatic and vocal aesthetics of the late 18th century. Marie-Sophie Pollak studied at the Academy of Music and Theatre in Munich where she worked with Professor Gabriele Fuchs and graduated with honors. While completing her studies, she made her debut at the Innsbrucker Festival of Early Music. Since then she has been involved in several more productions. She is an award winner of the competition Jugend Musiziert 2006 of the Federal Republic of Germany and reached the final at the International Voice Competition for Baroque Opera Pietro Antonio Cesti.

Here you have Mozart's aesthetics in a nutshell. Of course, music must not break a sweat," and must be natural to be of the highest order." Alfred Einstein wrote this in 1945 about Mozart's later works, and the Trio L�zard has discovered a new look at a group of works that exemplifies this idea of compressed aesthetics: the trios KV 439b, previously known as "five divertimenti", are not really divertimenti, at least Mozart does not call them that. In a long unknown transcript from Mozart's time, the 25 individual movements are arranged differently and supplemented by five arrangements of opera arias, resulting in 30 "Terzetti", as Mozart himself called it. Originally set for three basset horns, there are already alternative voices from the early days - the starting point for the Trio L�zard. Their convincing and brilliantly presented new version of the Terzetti for oboe, clarinet and bassoon shows the fascinating color and transparency of this music with voice alterations in the upper parts.

The 13 Barcarolles of Fauré, composed over the course of almost four decades (1882-1921), are highly representative of his piano oeuvre and are considered his most characteristic works. They reflect his separation from the romantic idiom of Chopin and Mendelssohn, in particular, and his progress towards an independent musical language in which he achieved a successful harmonious reconciliation between tradition and the modernism that was emerging at the time. Michael Endres recorded these pieces for OehmsClassics at WDR in Cologne in May 2017. The German pianist performs worldwide as a soloist and chamber music partner. He gained a Master’s degree at the Juilliard School in New York under Jacob Lateiner and studied with Peter Feuchtwanger in London. He has won several prestigious prizes at festivals and competitions, and his discography consists of 29 albums which have also been awarded.

For its very first recording on Chandos, the Arcadia String Quartet presents what has been at the very heart of its musical career and influences: the complete string quartets by Bartók.

With the music of the Hungarian composer, the members of this Romanian ensemble, neighbours of his birthplace, have won such major careershaping competitions as Osaka, the Wigmore Hall, and Hamburg.

Bartók’s attachment to the string quartet – as to no other genre – was to the keystone of the Viennese tradition, but with the aim of moving the medium out of its native city a little, into the countryside of alternative tonalities and rhythms. The six mature works he wrote are being revealed here with all the singular patterns, mixed modalities, bitterness, lamentations, and, at times, bright folk influences which they contain.

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REVIEWS:

Whatever the inspirations, these players are alive to them, just as they are alert to the technical demands lurking around every corner. These Arcadians also find haunting desolation.

– BBC Music Magazine

If I was asked to recommend a Bartók cycle to a first-time listener intimidated by his spiky reputation, I’d send them straight to the Arcadia Quartet. Even for the aficionado, this spacious, big-hearted vision of Bartók as poet, dreamer, and humorist has something distinctive and beautiful to say.

– Gramophone

Hungarian period instrument orchestra Capella Savaria has been hailed by the Canadian Opus Magazine as “one of Europe’s best ensembles”. Their new release offers an insight into Antonio Vivaldi’s concerto œuvre consisting of over 500 fascinating compositions. Besides the undoubtedly most substantial (and popular) pieces, the album also has a selection of concertos for flute and bassoon occasionally evoking the atmosphere of Vivaldi’s most renowned composition, The Four Seasons. Founded in 1981, in Szombathely, Capella Savaria has earned its fame as the first period instrument chamber orchestra of Hungary. Its innovative efforts created quite a sensation at the time in musical circles. The ensemble’s objectives were, from the onset, to play Baroque and Classical music in an authentic way by relying on genuine documents of the period. The founding artistic director was Pal Nemeth, followed by Zsolt Kallo who has been directing the ensemble since 1999. The members play authentic 18th century instruments or their copies.

The symphonic output of George Antheil, the self-proclaimed ‘bad boy of music’, is further investigated by the BBC Philharmonic and its Chief Guest Conductor, John Storgårds, in the second album of the series. Following his early experimentations with modernist ideas as an enfant terrible in 1920s Paris, the stylistic trajectory of his symphonies over the next decades mirrors his self-confessed desire to learn more orthodox compositional techniques. This album explores two more of his symphonies: Symphony No. 3 (compl. 1946), only one movement of which was performed during Antheil’s lifetime, and Symphony No. 6 (compl. 1950), in which the influences of Shostakovich and Ives make themselves heard. Completing this exciting album from the BBC Philharmonic and Storgårds are two lively symphonic pieces, Archipelago (1935) and Hot-Time Dance (1948), and a re-orchestration into a concert waltz of music from the strikingly eclectic score to Specter of the Rose (1946). This film tells the gripping story of a male ballet dancer suspected of having murdered his first wife and of being on the verge of dispatching his second in the same manner.

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REVIEW:

Antheil’s sound world comes vividly alive with the BBC Philharmonic under John Storgårds’ perceptive and idiomatic leadership. For the most part, Storgårds’ interpretations are comparable to those in Hugh Wolff’s standard-setting CPO Antheil cycle. They also boast a small sonic advantage in that Chandos’ engineering captures first-desk soloists and string tuttis at closer range, in contrast to CPO’s slightly diffuse concert hall realism.

– ClassicsToday (Jed Distler)

John Wilson’s first album in a series of recordings of the orchestral works of Eric Coates, using his own definitive editions of the scores. includes the suites The Jester at the Wedding and London, and the miniature overture The Merrymakers. Infectiously idiomatic playing from the BBC Philharmonic! Eric Coates was born on August 27th, 1886, at Hucknall. Coates showed an interest in music at an early age, studying first the violin and then the viola with George Ellenberger, a pupil of Joachim, and harmony with Dr Ralph Horner in Nottingham. At the age of twenty he arrived in London determined to make a career in music despite some family misgivings. He won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music where he studied viola with Lionel Tertis and composition with Frederick Corder. Eventually, in 1919, when neuritis in his left hand made playing the viola more and more difficult, Eric Coates turned exclusively to composition. Eric Coates' work is in the tradition of polished melodic light music started by Sir Arthur Sullivan and continued by Edward German.

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REVIEWS:

Wilson is relishing every second of the music. The BBC Phil is in great nick, and Stephen Rinker’s engineering brings sound of clarity and fidelity, every detail, dynamic, and subtlety captured perfectly.

– ClassicalSource.com

Volume 1 implies we are to get more like this and they can’t come soon enough. Eric Coates is surprisingly undervalued, even with the resurgence of interest in light music. There are some very familiar pieces here – The Merrymakers, By a Sleepy Lagoon, London Suite – alongside the ballet The Jester at the Wedding and two symphonic rhapsodies. All engaging and here splendidly played by the BBC Phil under one of the real champions of light music, John Wilson.

– Lark Reviews

When Franz xaver Richter became member of the famous Mannheim Orchestra in 1746, he found himself in the very centre of the progressive European music scene where a new era was being born in a proverbial melting pot of various influences. However, Richter never gave up his traditional baroque ''craftsmanship'' and after making himself acquainted with the most successful oratorio libretto by G.C. Pasquini, he set it to music entirely within the boundaries of his characteristic style, combining baroque composition principles with the achievements of the nascent classicist style. For this he used the new 1744 version of the lbiretto intended fo J.A. Hasse. La Deposizione, Richter's only Italian oratorio is a Good Friday pondering of Jesus's disciples over God's unconditional love and Christ's suffering on the cross. For the first time it was performed on the Good Friday of 1748 in the Mannheim court church of The Visitation of Our Lady. After the Strassbourg Requiem, this premiere recording is another gemstone that the Czech Ensemble Baroque have added to the mosaic of Richter's remarkable, still little-researched oeuvre.

This release offers up 75 minutes of the greatest film music of all time in original arrangements by Krzysztof Lenczowski, performed by Maksym Rzeminski and the Radom Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Dawid Runtz. Maksym Rzeminski graduated from the Primary and Secondary Music School in Kielce in the piano class of Professor Janina Wozniak. He continued his education at the Academy of Music in Krakow in the class of Marek Koziak. He was a multiple scholarship holder of programmes for highly gifted students. He debuted with a symphony orchestra at the age of ten, performing a piano concerto by WA Mozart. He is the winner of the first prize at that Polish Competition in Konin, second prize at the Polish Piano Competition in Olsztyn, second prize at the Polish Piano Competition in Skarzysko-Kamienna, and third prize at the International Chopin Competition in Germany.

In Krzysztof Pendercki's catalogue of works, the ones in which wind instruments play a dominant role actually do not constitute an impressive collection, however, they draw attention with their variety. The four compositions on this new release represent the concertare rule; on the one hand, they document the attempts of investigating the sound nature as well as technical and expressive possibilities of the particular instruments. On the other hand, they serve as a record of Pencerecki's change of style within the period of almost 50 years.

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REVIEW:

The Capriccio for oboe and 11 strings is a genuinely virtuoso piece, as much for the string players as for the soloists, but that provides no problems for the outstanding Sinfonia Iuventus, and Arkadiusz Krupa is a commanding soloist. The epic Horn Concerto, subtitled Winterreise though devoid of any quotations from Schubert, dates from 2008 and is naturally utterly different in style. Its opening, mysterious and portentous, may well constitute the most beautiful two minutes of music the composer has ever written.

– Gramophone

After some successful studio recordings a live recording was overdue for Hanna Shybayeva. For the pianist, it is clear that she can only get the best out of herself in concert, adding the ''extra dimension of excitement and energy'' to her playing. On her latest recording, this can be seen in a lively, fiery performance.

"Bavouzet’s Haydn is unmatched in its zest and its wit. But it is also substantial, informed and deeply rewarding."

--The New York Times on Bavouzet's Haydn Sonatas cycle, 2022

Alongside an internationally acclaimed celebration of Debussy’s centenary, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet continues his sumptuous journey through Haydn, the installments consistently praised for their intelligent approach and clear and vivid interpretations. Recorded on a modern Yamaha CFX in the warm acoustic of Potton Hall in Suffolk, the series has now reached Volume 7, which showcases several rarely heard sonatas, some of which have been considered of dubious authenticity or outright apocryphal. With the exception of No. 13 (Hob. XVI: 6), absolutely and unarguably authentic, these sonatas survive only in the form of copies, and to establish a chronology is difficult, even impossible. But through Jean-Efflam Bavouzet’s playing, all these pieces are revealed in their purest essence and diversity, from the energetic, witty, and ironic to the graceful, tender, and intimate.

REVIEWS

Extremely well recorded in Potton hall in Suffolk, Bavouzet’s Yamaha enables him to bring ideal clarity to these elegant works.

--BBC Music Magazine

Jean-Efflam Bavouzet’s Haydn isn’t a comfortable ride but a vivid one. Take his stimulating approach to Sonata 58’s first movement; it has warmth, athleticism and a feel of being improvised while missing nothing of Haydn’s harmonic, rhythmic and dynamic twists. There’s a certain quirkiness about it, but that is exactly Haydn’s.

--MusicWeb International (Michael Greenhalgh)

The soloist Elena Denisova and the string orchestra Collegium Musicum Carinthia as well as the RTV Orchestra Moscow conducted by Alexei Kornienko proudly present two new violin concertos of the 21st century. The works of Nikolaus Fheodoroff and Mikhail Kollontay are characterized by a constantly evolving, lively musical choreography of the performers and are, in a musical and technical sense, very masterful and expressive. As an ambassador of tonal sensuality Elena Denisova ranks as one of the finest and most charismatic violinists of her generation. Known for her great musical maturity, individual style of interpretation and supreme virtuosity, her performances have won critical acclaim from press and public alike. Denisova was born in Moscow and, as a young child, was fascinated by Jascha Heifetz’s expressive playing and versatility of tone; she loved listening to his records over and over in her childhood home. Her parents supported this highly sensitive talent, and she recorded her first LP while still a pupil at the music school of the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory. She has won many violin competitions and initially was active as a soloist and chamber musician in the former USSR- for example as soloist of the Moscow State Philharmonic and first violinist of the Moscow National Quartet. Elena lives for her convictions about how music can reach audiences today. She is a knowledgeable advocate of the music of our time, and international composers have dedicated highly complex pieces to her. She covers the complete violin concert repertoire from the Baroque to the Modern, whereby composers and colleagues affirm that “she plays even the most complex and challenging modern works with the same self-assurance and inner logic as if she were playing Brahms or Beethoven.” (Franz Hummel)

Classical Music

Renowned violinist Tasmin Little returns to Chandos with a line-up of three women composers whose lives share some features but also significant differences that illustrate the complex lives of female musicians. Clara Schumann, Dame Ethel Smyth and Amy Beach all came from families that encouraged their musical interests but balked, in varying degrees, at professional training and engagement. All three composers draw on the influence of Robert Schumann and Brahms; Beach and Smyth in particular were fond of metrical and motivic manipulation.Tasmin Little plays this music close to her heart with her usual warmth and dexterity. The manuscript to Clara Schumann’s final chamber work Three Romances states ‘for piano and violin’, an ordering reflected in the relative complexity of the parts, the florid passagework here played beautifully by long-term collaborator with Little, John Lenehan.

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REVIEWS:

This delightful, beautifully performed album makes an emphatic, seemingly effortless case for these composers’ music.

– BBC Music Magazine

Neither the Beach or the Smyth, surely, has ever been treated to anything like Little’s gleaming, endlessly fluid tone or John Lenehan’s warmly characterised, unfailingly sensitive pianism. There’s a flexibility and sense of sweep to Little and Lenehan’s performance of the Beach that’s utterly persuasive on its own terms. The two players respond to each other as if by instinct.

– Gramophone

Classical Music

This new release is an exciting recital from award-winning pianist Lukasz Kwiatkowski that features compositions from J.S. Bach, Camille Saint-Saens, Fryderyk Chopin, and Leopold Godowski. Godowski's works are the cornerstone of the album. The American-Polish composer and pianist wrote more than 200 piano pieces. While many pianists are reluctant to play Godowsky's works due to significant difficulties in their learning process and performing them from memory, Lukasz Kwiatkowski rises to the occasion. Lukasz Kwiatkowski graduated with honors from the Henryk Wieniawski State Primary Music School and the Secondary Music School in Lodz, and later graduated with honors from the Grazyna and Kiejstut Bacewicz Academy of Music in Lodz. Currently, he is an assistant professor at the Department of Piano at his home University. In addition to teaching, he has a busy concert schedule, and has won numerous awards including at the Kiejstut Bacewuz International Inter-University Chamber Music Competition, the Concerto Trials Final in Cardiff, and the International Chamber Competition in Val Tidonne.