Classical Music

Joan La Barbara is a long recognized pioneer of extended vocal techniques and champion of new music. She emerged from the New York Downtown scene to perform in the ensembles of Steve Reich and Philip Glass, including the premiere of Glass' "Einstein on the Beach." Composer/Vocalist Joan La Barbara has created a rich body of experimental works, many initially produced on analog tape. This collection includes a first release of the award-winning CYCLONE plus two LP reissues offered here remixed to her original surround concept: as lightning comes, in flashes explores a vast array of La Barbara’s signature extended vocal techniques; Autumn Signal is a rare example of the composer’s work with Buchla synthesizer for spatialization as well as modification of vocals. 96khz/24-bit transfers were made from the original multi-track analog tapes. New stereo and surround mixes were then created under the supervision of the composer. On the Bluray edition: The stereo soundtrack is presented in uncompressed 24-bit PCM audio. The surround versions are presented in 24-bit 5.1 Surround Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio..

Classical Music

Lucid music. Vivacity, wit, intensity, foldings and unfoldings of the pointillist material, embracing the thing itself and its contradiction- sensuality, drollery, dances, abysses like sudden draughts of air. Movement and standstill… Music that slaps, pinches, bites, muffles, growls. Here Pesson reinvigorates what might already be his own classicism (Carmagnole); draws a pencil moustache on Mozart, who is more than willing to wear it (Transformations du Menuet K. 355); hounds his language so far into the corner that it seems different, and probably becomes so, in the intransigent light of Opalka (Blanc merite); a language that ramifies and scintillates in Proust (Ne pas oublier coz rouge dans jour craquele); grows geometric in Perec (Neige bagatelle); and denudes itself in ‘enfantines’ (Musica ficta). The Ensemble Cairn, a faithful partner of the label, under its director Guillaume Bourgogne, leads us into territories that could hardly be droller.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

An unrivalled compendium on disc of the Beethoven’s compositional laboratory, full of experiments that would be refined throughout his career to create the piano’s ‘New Testament’ of 32 sonatas. Under the title of ‘early variations’, Alessandro Commellato has brought together all those theme with variation sets for solo and four hands piano that were not included in the main catalogue of Beethoven's compositions. In fact not all of them are early: the imposing C minor 32 Variations WoO80 are the best-known work here, composed as late as 1806, and the sets on Rule Britannia and God save the King were written a year or two earlier, and perhaps not only for commercially expedient reasons, given Beethoven’s admiration for the British resistance to the proclamation of the French Empire. More common, however, are the variation sets where Beethoven was establishing his voice and refining his technique by exercising his imagination on melodies from popular marches and operas by Grétry, Paisiello and Mozart. The composer used these works to curry favour with patrons such as Prince Lichnowsky; even on occasion as dedicatory gifts in order to make amends for his notoriously obstreperous behaviour, such as the variations on a Dittersdorf arietta, ‘Es war einmal’ (Once upon a time) which he gave in the summer of 1792 to Eleonore von Breuning, daughter of Maria Helena, who had welcomed the young wayward artist into her home. Alessandro Commellato uses an 1823 fortepiano by Joseph Böhm, a Viennese piano-maker whose instruments were known to Beethoven, bestowing on this recording an unusual degree of authenticity. He is a specialist in historically informed performances of Viennese Classicism: previous discs for Brilliant Classics include music by Beethoven’s pupils such as the cello sonatas of Ferdinand Ries and piano concertos by Johann Nepomuk Hummel.

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REVIEW:

Commellato’s choice of specific instruments for particular works is a personal one, and it is always well-considered. There are five different fortepianos heard here, each with its own unique sound, with the earliest having very distinctly harpsichord-like characteristics and the latest (dating to 1823) beginning to possess some of the range and tone of the more-familiar instruments created later in the 19th century. All in all, this is a fascinating foray into less-known Beethoven and into a form that the composer used in his piano music throughout his life, right through to the second and concluding movement of his final piano sonata.

– Infodad.com

Rebecca Rust, cello, and Friedrich Edelmann, bassoon, have played together in duos, trios and larger chamber music groups for over 30 years. From their home base in Germany, this huband-and-wife team performs in America, Europe and Japan including radio and TV productions. Praised by Carlo Maria Giulini for her "exceptional musicality," the American cellist Rebecca Rust, a native of California, received her first piano lessons with her mother at the age of five and began cello lessons with Margaret Rowell. Rowell said: "Rebecca Rust is one of the most talented cellists that I have had the pleasure of teaching. Blessed with a beautiful ear and facility, she has used these gifts as tools to dig deep into the music itself, thereby giving her listeners a profound musical experience. Rebecca Rust is a brilliant cellist." Friedrich Edelmann grew up in Kaiserslautern, Germany. He studied with Alfred Rinderspacher, Klaus Thunemann, and Milan Turkovic. In 1977 he became the Principal Bassoonist of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra. They are joined on this recording by pianist Scott Faigen.

The Bach Partitas need no introduction, and this is a superlative recording performed on piano by Shoshana Telner. Canadian pianist Shoshana Telner has performed across Canada and abroad. Described as an “authentic musician with a sparkling technique” (Le Droit) and “full of fire and warmth” (the New York Times), Shoshana has a passion for engaging audiences with exciting performances. She made her solo orchestral début with the National Arts Centre Orchestra at the age of 16 and has since performed as soloist with several orchestras including the Québec Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Classical Orchestra, and the National Academy Orchestra. Shoshana received a Bachelor’s degree on full scholarship from Boston University, a Master’s degree from the Juilliard School in New York, and a Doctorate in performance from McGill University. She has taught piano and coached ensembles at McGill University, the University of Ottawa, Wilfrid Laurier University, and currently teaches piano at McMaster University. She frequently gives masterclasses, adjudicates competitions, and examines for the Royal Conservatory of Music.

Huddersfield Choral Society return to Signum with the follow-up to their massively successful Hymns Album. Founded in 1836, the Huddersfield Choral Society has developed an international reputation as one of the UK's leading choral societies, famed for their 'Huddersfield Sound,' which was first recorded in 1927. Over the years the ensemble has performed most of the major works in the choral repertoire, and has had numerous works commissioned for it, including works by Ralph Vaughan Williams and William Walton. The choir has made numerous recordings, with two of their albums making an appearance on the UK Albums Chart. The choir performs regularly with the leading orchestras in the north of England, including the Orchestra of Opera North, The Halle, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Manchester Camerata, and the Northen Sinfonia.

Celebrated soloists Roderick Wiliams and Christopher Glynn perform a new English translation of Franz Schubert’s Winterreise. Composed in 1827 whilst in the grip of the illness that would ultimately kill him, Schubert’s setting of Wilhelm Muller’s poetry takes on an added tragic interpretation as it follows the narrative of a spurned lover travelling through a cold and barren landscape. Christopher Glynn writes on this new recording: “We hope this Winter Journey can offer English-speaking listeners a way to experience the story’s sense alongside the music’s sound, with something of the same directness that Schubert surely intended when he sat down at the piano in 1827 and sang these songs for the first time to his friends.” This release is the first in a series of three English language programmes of Schubert’s song cycles. Future releases include The Shepherd on the Rock (Der Hirt auf dem Felsen) and The Fair Maid of the Mill (Die schöne Müllerin).

This album is a sequel to ‘Café 1930’, which also featured Piercarlo Sacco and Andrea Dieci in violin/guitar arrangements of Piazzolla. Released in 2014, ‘Café 1930’ was praised for the virtuosity of Sacco and sensitive partnership of Dieci: ‘The record is a great gift for any party and every occasion, even for oneself when looking for something out of the ordinary, but full of charm and interest.’ (www.saltinaria.it) ‘In a new exciting mix of the traditional dance with jazz and classical music influences… All the pieces are played with energy, drive and an innate feeling for the characteristic Tango spirit by Piercarlo Sacco and guitarist Andrea Dieci.’ (www.neuguitars.com) Their sequel opens with the title track, one of Piazzolla’s best-known tangos, named after the street where he lived during his years in New York. Imágines 676 is an explicit reference to a club in Buenos Aires located in Calle Tucuman 676, where he used to play with his quintet, alternating with musicians such as João Gilberto and Stan Getz. For Fièvre and Détresse, Sacco has matched the melody with the smokier, rough-breathing sound of the viola. Several out-of-the-way Piazzolla tangos are included here, such as Psicosis, Suavidad, Dernier lamento, Tango choc and Made in USA, again in the free and passionate arrangements that made their first album a critical success.

The Dutch musician Krijn Koetsveld has often conducted Bach, and he was founder-director of The Netherlands Bach Ensemble. However, it is the name of Claudio Monteverdi with which he is indelibly associated: he first encountered the composer’s music in 1972, and describes it as ‘love at first sight, which never passed’. This relationship matured over time into the foundation of a soloistic vocal group, Le Nuove Musiche, with the technical skills, the scholarly understanding and the musical sensitivities to do justice to the highly intimate, sophisticated genre of Renaissance madrigal, of which the nine books by Monteverdi represent its summit and fullest flowering. Recording all nine books, and several other mini-dramas and vocal chamber works which fall within the genre but outside the books themselves, began in 2004 and was only completed in 2018. Koetsveld contributes a lively and authoritative introduction to the whole project in the booklet. He remarks: ‘Nine books of madrigals, all of them unique, contributing to the transition from the Renaissance to the baroque, a musical history in sound.’ As the series has been released, its importance has been widely recognised in the critical press. In 2017, Fanfare observed: ‘Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda is representative of Koetsveld’s approach. The harmonic outline of the continuo is restrained and precise, the tutti playing of the strings articulated clearly. Both instrumental and concerted textures are so transparent one could take dictation to the recording. In a luminous performance as the narrator, Falco van Loon is focused and crystalline; Wendy Roobol is a clean, nimble Clorinda. Arnout Lems is the most dramatic of the soloists, voicing Tancredi in a rich but gentle baritone.’

Composed in 1944 and first performed at the Salle Gaveau in Paris on 26 March 1945 by Yvonne Loriod, this is the second great pianistic cycle by Olivier Messiaen: a major work indeed, not only in the composer's oeuvre but in the entire repertoire for solo piano. As we know, it's origin is in the faith and spirituality of Olivier Messiaen, who described it as: 'The Contemplation of the Child-God in the cradle, and the gazes fixed upon Him: from the inexpressible Gaze of God the Father to the multiple Gaze of the Church of love, also taking in the unheard Gaze of the Spirit of joy, the tender Gaze of the Virgin, of the Angels, of the Magi, and of those creatures that are immaterial or symbolic (Time, Extreme Height, Silence, the Star, the Cross).' He continues: 'It is a complex of sounds destined for perpetual variations, pre-existing in the abstract as a series, but very concrete and easy to recognize by their colours: a steely grey-blue traversed by bright red and orange, a mauve-tinted violet spotted with leather-brown and encircled in deep purple.' The vision of this work transmitted by Martin Helmchen - a great piano virtuoso who is himself marked by a strong sense of spirituality - is another substantial contribution to the Messiaenic monument.

In Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach’s catalogue, the music for solo keyboard and the chamber music occupy central positions. In his youth, Carl Philipp Emanuel, who was left-handed, did not play string instruments such as the violin or viola, but rather the harpsichord and organ (not to overlook the flute). It was as a harpsichordist that, in 1738, he joined the entourage of the future King of Prussia, Frederick II, before following him to Berlin upon his accession two years later and then formally entering his service. In 1767, he was offered the succession of his godfather, Telemann, as director of music in Hamburg. He arrived in the Hanseatic city in March 1768, and for the last twenty years of his life, it was church music that occupied much of his time and effort. The symphonies of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach are all in three movements, quite often linked without a break. Highly original and typical of north Germany, the symphonies turn their back on the style gallant, on Johann Stamitz, founder of the Mannheim School, and on the Viennese style. The Concerto in A major was originally written for harpsichord and strings, but was later transcribed for cello by the composer, likely for the cellist Christian Friedrich Schale, who hosted a Musikalische Assemblee in his Berlin home every week.

The tenor Julian Pregardien joins ALPHA for several recording projects that will showcase every facet of his talent, notably lieder and oratorio. His first album on the label is devoted to one of the greatest masterpieces in the history of music, Winterreise, but in a version with orchestra composed by Hans Zender in 1993. He scored the work for orchestral forces very differently from the ensembles used in the nineteenth century. Hans Zender describes his work as a ‘creative transformation’: “My own reading of Winterreise does not seek a new expressive interpretation, but systematically takes advantage of the freedoms that performers normally allow themselves in an intuitive way: slowing down or accelerating the tempo, transposition into different keys, emphasizing and nuancing colors.” Following a staged production of this version of the work, Christian Merlin wrote in Le Figaro in 2018: “A spellbinding Winterreise . . . The tenor Julian Pregardien, at once an exceptional singer and a committed actor, gives an incendiary performance combining vocal expressiveness, loving attention to the words and theatrical presence with sensitivity and intelligence in equal measure.”

The new Joachim Wollenweber Edition refocuses the public’s attention on forgotten composers from the Baroque period all the way into the modern age. New sheet music editions are created in collaboration with top artists, musicologists and radio stations, with the recordings being published at the same time. The eighth release in this TYXart chamber music series is dedicated to the Venetian composer Sandro Blumenthal (1874 – 1919), a versatile wanderer between the establishment and the avant-garde of the German musical and cultural landscape around the turn from the 19th to the 20th century. After a promising start as a composer of serious music, he turned to the cabaret and became an important singer of cabaret lieder. Internationally well-known artists present these almost forgotten chamber music gems for the first time.

With their poetry, their passionate and intimate lyricism, their refined style that gradually reveals hidden depths, the thirteen Nocturnes of Gabriel Fauré are the most significant group of works in his oeuvre for solo piano. Composed over a period of forty-six years (between 1875 and 1821), they bear witness to the composer’s remarkable stylistic evolution. From a form of expression rooted in romanticism, to an aesthetic fully aligned with 20th-century modernity, Fauré can be said to have shaped his musical personality like a sculptor. His Nocturnes are not all of equal importance, but as a whole their diversity and development offer a perfect panorama of his art. Éric Le Sage, one of the French piano school’s main representatives, whose many recordings for Alpha include the complete chamber music of Fauré, here interprets the repertoire closest to his heart.

The increasing popularity of consort music and lute songs at the 16th-century English court gave rise to a specific type of song, usually sung by a boy soprano together with a consort of 3 to 5 viols. These ‘consort songs’ flourished particularly during the reigns of Elizabeth I (1558–1603) and her son James I (1603–1625). Especially attractive examples of such songs are gathered and arranged here, and sung by the Dutch soprano Klaartje van Veldhoven, who specializes in early and Baroque music, having regularly sung as a soloist with many of Europe’s foremost early-music ensembles and conductors such as Sigiswald Kuijken and Ton Koopman. This is the fourth album on Brilliant Classics by the Dutch-based recorder quintet Seldom Sene. Having come from all over Europe to study at the Amsterdam Conservatoire, they draw upon the particularly rich performing tradition for recorder music established in that country during the 1960s by the late Frans Bruggen. In fact they take their name from the last track on this album, Seldom Sene by Tye: a short work full of beauty, precision and striking rhythmic complexity that the musicians felt captured the essence of their vision, which is to perform unique and compelling repertoire at a standard that is seldom seen and heard.

Ensemble Nevermind made a good impression via the Alpha Classics label with their Conversations album, and this Telemann programme also surpasses expectations for range and sheer variety of musical content, showing how canny 18th century masters were in making the most out of small chamber ensembles.

Telemann’s influence as a composer spread throughout Europe in the first half of the 18th century in no small part due to distribution of his chamber music from his own publishing house. This quality of this work reached the attention of flautist and composer Michael Blavet, and an invitation went out to Germany for Telemann to join in the salons and Concerts Spirituel that represented the height of musical fashion in the French capital at the time.

The quartet format heard in this stylish recording might well have been cooked up between Blavet and Telemann, but whatever its origins the combination of flute, violin, viola da gamba or cello and harpsichord ticks all the boxes for contrast of timbre and flexibility when it comes to applying pretty much any compositional technique of the period. Concerto movements can be found, as in the Prélude to the Quatuor no. 4, variations appear in Quatuor no. 6, which opens with a French overture, and dance forms of various kinds that are disguised under French expression markings such as Coulant or tempo indications such as Vite.

Pieces intended for the consumption of elite concertgoers might be expected to be somewhat superficial, and while there is goodly entertainment to be had throughout, there are plenty of movements and passages which affect the emotions more strikingly that you might have anticipated. The solemn ecclesiastical origins of the Fuguette that opens this programme makes it a case in point, and while all too brief the fourth movement Largo from the Concerto No. 1 can compete with Telemann’s contemporary, J.S. Bach. Contrast is all, and hardly anything here lingers beyond a five minute duration. More substantial movements, such as the Prélude to Quatuor No. 6, have their contrasting sections, with improvisatory playing adding spice to slower tempi, and little rhythmic tricks adding spice to the faster sections, played with improvisatory flair by Nevermind’s expert musicians.

Recorded closely but with an excellent refinement of balance that blends the harpsichord with the other instruments, this is a production for long-term delight. The Sonate in F major TWV 43:F1 may be a world premiere recording, the present version being one adapted from an original scored for four strings and continuo. Documentation about the instruments played is included in the booklet, and all sound very nice indeed, the transverse flute played with sweet nuance by Anna Besson, who interestingly swaps for a piccolo in the Vite of Quatuor No. 4. For Telemann fans and those intrigued by what happens when German baroque meets French fashion, this is a must.

– MusicWeb International (Dominy Clements)

This release features a program of Cantatas by Clerambault and Rameau, two of the greatest of all French Baroque composers. American Tenor Zachary Wilder joins with Les Bostonades, a world-class period instrument ensemble based in Boston. American tenor Zachary Wilder is recognized for his work in repertoire from the 17th and 18th centuries and is sought after on both the concert and operatic stages on both sides of the Atlantic. Having studied at the Eastman School of Music and at the Moores School of Music, University of Houston, Zachary subsequently moved to Boston after the beginning of his ongoing collaboration with the Boston Early Music Festival and a summer of studies as a Tanglewood Music Fellow. Zachary's discography comprises several recordings with the Boston Early Music Festival, including their Grammy Award winning La Descente d'Orph�e aux Enfers as Tantalus. The period-instrument ensemble Les Bostonades has been sharing chamber music with Boston area audiences since it's founding in 2005. The ensemble features Baroque music specialists who have studied and performed all over the world, who collaborate in Boston's vibrant early music scene, bringing spirited and polished performances to their listeners. The ensemble's performances have been described as "the most engaging chamber music playing... [a] generous, voluptuous sound... well delineated, [and with] a poignancy of emotion."

Verdi’s third opera was created at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan in 1842, in the epicentre of the “Risorgimento” and the capital of Italian nationalism, at a time where the supporters of Italian independence from Austrian occupation were starting to make their voices heard. The “Chorus of the Hebrew slaves,” a pivotal point in the third act where the Jews, exiled from Babylon by Nabuchodonosor, mourn their country, “so beautiful and lost,” immediately resonated with the Italian nationalists and has ever since been a symbol of Italian national identity. French director Arnaud Bernard goes as far as to center the entire opera during the popular uprisings of 1848 and in the insides of the Milanese opera house. A clever way to emphasize on the legends that have been building around Verdi’s operas and the role they played in the political process of uniting the Italian peninsula. Soprano Susanna Branchini steals the stage as Nabuchodonosor’s daughter Abigaille, while Israeli-born conductor Daniel Oren conducts with great panache this “lyrical epic” that holds such a special place in the heart of all Italians. As a film director, Ingmar Bergman was also a choreographer. His “invisible hand” is constantly directing the actor in a slow dance around the room. The renowned and innovative Swedish choreographers Alexander Ekman, Pär Isberg, Pontus Lidberg and Joakim Stephenson, with principal dancers Jenny Nilson, Nathalie Nordquist, Oscar Salomonsson and Nadja Sellrup from the Royal Swedish Ballet, interpret Ingmar Bergman through four unique dance performances reflecting on human relations and intense feelings. On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Bergman’s birth, this movie is not only a tribute to the Swedish cineaste’s unique aesthetics, but also a way to deepen his search of the ineffable, his reflection on the visual poetry of movement, and on the emotional powers of silent contemplation. The movie won the Special Mention award at Golden Prague International Film Festival 2017 for exceptional artistic achievement.

Also available on Blu-ray

A jewel of bel canto, and Bellini’s last masterpiece, I puritani encapsulates every major theme held dear by the Italian romantic generation: a love triangle, quid pro quos, a shattered love affair leading to madness, set in Cromwell’s England with its lot of political rivalries. It is also an ode to resistance and to freedom, echoing the political struggles that the Italian peninsula was facing in the 1830’s. But it is mainly a testament to Bellini’s unique musical brand, a genius combination of melodic brightness, post-Rossinian ornaments, and a profound and melancholic lament that owes much to traditional Neapolitan songs. It is therefore one of the most vocally demanding operas of the repertoire, and to face this challenge, the Teatro Real of Madrid called on four exceptional singers : the great diva Diana Damrau is Elvira, Javier Camarena is Arturo (both triumphed at the Metropolitan Opera of New York in the same opera in early 2017), as well as baritone Ludovic Tezier and bass-baritone Nicolas Teste. Catalan director Emilio Sagi offers a staging both elegant and simple, and bel canto expert Evelinò Pido, along with the Teatro Real Orchestra and Chorus, brings forth every nuance of this immense and unforgettable score.

Russian born Leff Pouishnoff (1891– 1959) studied piano in St Petersburg with Annette Essipov but settled in the UK after the revolution where he became particularly renowned as a Chopin player. His earlier Columbia recordings reveal a brilliant technique and a penchant for fast tempi, but perhaps most interesting is his premiere recording of Schubert’s G major sonata. The set includes several of the pianist’s own compositions and closes with his late recording of the variations by his composition teacher Glazunov. This is the first time his complete 78rpm recordings have been reissued and is the only currently available recording of his work. The set is completed with a representative sample from the single LP and EP he made for Saga shortly before his death. Research into these Saga recordings for this project uncovered a mysterious case of fraud which cannot yet be fully explained. All the details are revealed in the booklet.