To have been a composer in late 19th century Germany must have been a mixed blessing. The pantheon of greats featured the refined Brahms, the revolutionary Wagner, and the romantic Reinecke. This left little room, therefore, for composers of less renown, especially those whom the musical and political establishment would have chosen to keep out of the limelight. Salomon Jadassohn found little support for his work as a composer. Although Jadassohn was a distinguished teacher and wrote several important books on composition and music theory, he considered himself primarily a composer. He was acknowledged to be a master of counterpoint and harmony, but he was also a gifted melodist in the tradition of Mendelssohn. His works show too the influence of Wagner and Liszt, whose music deeply impressed him. This double release includes Jadassohn’s Symphony No. 1, a light and attractive work, four Serenades, which are equally as charming, and a Piano Concerto.

It is magic through transparency. The music of Hans Abrahamsen, dark yet alluringly innocent, exhibits a pure, strong naivete that opens up into a genuine magical world of both the bright and the sombre kind. Performing two of his early works - Six Pieces for horn trio and his first string quartet 10 Preludes - Ensemble MidtVest brings out Abrahamsen's characteristic clear, precise tone. The same clarity inhabits his arrangements of Erik Satie's Trois Gymnopedies and Carl Nielsen's Fantasy Pieces, exploring and evoking the original works in a new, unmistakably Abrahamsenesque way.

Per N�rgard is one of the most frequently played composers of his generation. He has written more than 400 works in all genres and inspired innumerable colleagues in Denmark and abroad. This album presents all of N�rgard's music for the Oscar winning Babette's Feast film version by Gabriel Axel of Karen Blixen's short story - not just the snatches of it one can hear in the film. One can also get to know the hypnotic Spell, the ripples and bubbles in Whirl's World and Trio Breve, which according to the composer himself are to be regarded as three as short expressive phrases - dream-like pictures - that change between light and dark, fast and slow but with introvert melodic features in common.

Duo Åstrand/Salo follow up their first installment of sonatas by Friedrich Kuhlau with a selection of some of the composer’s most impressive works for violin and piano. Friedrich Kuhlau fled to Denmark as a young man and with his strong cosmopolitan personality became a loner- and at the same time a key figure- in the Danish Golden Age. In 1813 Kuhlau was granted Danish citizenship and the honorary title of Royal Court Musician. Included on this release is what some consider the first Danish violin sonata in the Romantic style, a work that glances towards the composer’s idol Beethoven but contains plenty of individual spice and allure. It is followed by sonatas in all but name, the Trois Duos brillants from late in Kuhlau’s career. They are brilliant, as the title suggests – three varied, evocative snapshots of the great cosmopolitan of Denmark’s Golden Age.

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REVIEW:

Kuhlau’s music sounds thoroughly Germanic, and he makes no attempt to develop a Danish national style. He is definitely one of the best composers of his era, though; and it wouldn’t be until Schumann in the early 1850s that anyone would write better for violin and piano.

– American Record Guide

During his own lifetime, Niels Viggo Bentzon (1919-2000) became the very symbol of modern music in Denmark. An unstoppable creative force which, right from his breakthrough in the early 1940s, was in a category of his own, Per Salo, the pre-eminent Danish interpreter of Bentzon, here turns to Bentzon’s huge-scale piano cycle The Tempered Piano, with a personal compilation of preludes and fugues from the many volumes that Bentzon wrote with direct inspiration from Bach. Riotous digressions, musical worlds of unbridled fantasy, loosely constructed blowholes – everywhere Bentzon broke new ground – ground far from the golden mean.

The so-called ''Sun'' quartets of Joseph Haydn's Op. 20 are often said to represent an unprecedented flowering of his string quartet writing, establishing a high watermark to which every other subsequent composer of quartets has paid homage. The six quartets are not a monument of compositional rectitude or propriety, however - it is rather their flexibility, variety and unpredictability that make them so compelling. Every bar is full o f a sense of musical adventure, a palpable feeling that Haydn is creating bridges between styles and ideas and forging a composite vision of four-part string writing that draws on every historical source that he knew as well as the furthest reaches of his musical imagination. On this second installment, the last three quartets of the set are performed by the Chiaroscuro Quartet, a highly international ensemble formed in 2005 by the violinists Alina Ibragimova and Pablo Hernan Benedi, the Swedish violist Emilie Hornlund and cellist Claire Thirion from France. Dubbed ''a trailblazer for the authentic performance of High Classical chamber music'' in Gramophone.

Well into the previous century Sweden was largely a peasant society with folk music an integral part of daily life. There were work songs, narrative ballads and, obviously, music for dancing. Over the centuries a not always easy coexistence between religion and folk culture developed, with hymns being adapted to a folk-music aesthetic while popular traditions were given a Christian veneer. An example of the latter is the rich store of ‘Staffan ballads’, springing from a pre-Christian horse cult but given a new slant as its focus shifted to St. Stephen – the first Christian martyr. Gunnar Idenstam and S:t Jacobs Chamber Choir have performed their Folkjul concerts more or less every year since 2002. The concept stem from a rich interplay between ‘folk culture’ and ‘high culture’ and in Idenstam’s arrangements a newly composed halling or polska entwines itself round the old Christmas melodies. The first Folkjul album was released in 2007 – this time the choir and Idenstam are joined by violinist Sandra Marteleur and Ulrika Bodén, one of Sweden’s most well-established folk singers.

Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895–1968) may still be regarded primarily as a composer for guitar, best known through his working partnership with Andres Segovia, but Brilliant Classics has illuminated other sides to this prolific musician through first recordings and modern rediscoveries of his piano music (BC94811) and his songs, most notably his settings of Shakespeare (BC95548). Now the focus falls on his chamber music, with these new studio recordings of suites, sonatas, tone-poems and fantasies. From the piquant miniatures of the two Signorine Op.10 to the neoclassically economical Suite 508 Op.170, all the works here abound in the bitter-sweet harmonies and soaring melodic rapture which gave a distinctive flavour to Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s music throughout his long career. Song without words is another thread to his output, first encountered here in the Tre canti all’aria aperta from 1919. Tuscan folksong and medieval troubadour tradition are spiced with Bartokian harmony in a fresh and appealing combination. The writing for the string instruments is reliably extrovert and idiomatic, influenced by the music’s dedicatees and first performers such as Jascha Heifetz, Albert Spalding and Adila Fachiri, grandniece of Joseph Joachim. Notturno Adriatico is a tranquil, dream-like tone-picture with a tenuous hold on the repertoire, like the virtuoso flourish of Exotica: A Rhapsody of the South Seas. However, the extensive fantasy on themes from Donizetti’s La fille du regiment is a substantial rarity which deserves much wider currency. In the same tradition of the operatic fantasy is a paraphrase of Rossini’s ‘Largo al factotum’; like the two deft miniatures from a series of Greetings Cards Op.170, the paraphrase was issued in print, whereas most of the five-movement Donizetti fantasy remains unpublished. So does the Suite 508 for viola and piano, composed in 1960. With typical ingenuity, Castelnuovo-Tedesco works in the name of the different dedicatees to each of the seven movements, resulting in chromaticism on the verge of atonality at times, but reliably handled with verve and melodic prominence.

Fran�ois Couperin (1689-1755) 'Couperin le Grand' was a master of the Baroque era, and this release offers us a fresh recording his chef-d'oeuvres: the harpsichord trios. Couperin was born into a musical family. He followed in his father's footsteps as organist at the Saint-Gervais Church in Paris, and before long his musical talent led him to the court of King Louis XIV. His appointment as court musician introduced him to a network of composers, with whom he regularly corresponded and shared ideas. Johann Sebastian Bach, for example, greatly admired his volumes of harpsichord music. L'Apoth�ose de Lully and L'Apoth�ose de Corelli open this set and are among the earliest examples of programme music. The former is dedicated to Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687) who had defined the sound of French Baroque music, while L'Apoth�ose de Corelli pays homage to the Italian virtuoso, Antonio Corelli (1653-1713). The pieces depict the esteemed composers reaching the summit of Mount Parnassus. Then, guided by the God Apollo, they merge the French and Italian styles. Relations between Italy and France had soured following the Spanish War of Succession and the scramble to claim new territory, but Couperin's piece favors integration over individualism, as each composer's style compliments the other, raising the music to divine greatness. Les Nations follows in this vein, as it draws influence from both styles, featuring Corelli-inspired forms with alternating slow and quick tempos as opposed to the French-style suites of dances. It was dedicated to France, Spain, the German Empire and to Piedmont, part of the newly reformed Kingdom of Sardinia. In the wider context, Couperin's music is tinged with political ideology as he paints a picture of harmony flourishing from European unity. Couperin's pioneering music has inspired composers for generations; a century after his death, Johannes Brahms was programming Couperin's keyboard works on his concerts, and Maurice Ravel paid homage to the composer in Le tombeau de Couperin.

1944 saw the premiere of the ballet Fancy Free, 25-year old Leonard Bernstein’s first major composition as well as the first in a string of scores for the stage and film. In order to celebrate the centennial of Bernstein’s birth in 1918, Christian Lindberg has gathered music from five different productions spanning a period of 13 years – from Fancy Free to the iconic musical West Side Story, premiered in 1957. The disc is bookended by the sparkling and witty Overture to Candide and Three Dance Episodes from the musical On the Town. Also included is the substantial Symphonic Suite from ‘On the Waterfront’, developed by Bernstein from the score he wrote for Elia Kazan’s classic film. The drama of this tale of love and betrayal set amid the docks of Hoboken in New Jersey is brought out by Bernstein’s music, which seethes with dramatic tension. Making its first appearance on BIS in these flamboyant and life-enhancing scores, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra clearly relishes the opportunity to let its collective hair down. The players are egged on by Lindberg, known for his ability to energize both orchestras and audiences.

REVIEW:

The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic put on such a good show throughout this disc. The Symphonic Dances from West Side Story find them rounding corners that challenge the very best big bands. The all-dancing aspects of the disc do Bernstein’s struttin’ NYC style proud.

– Gramophone

Elverskud (The Elf-King's Daughter) is a dramatic cantata from 1854, based on Danish medieval ballads. It became one of Niels W. Gade's greatest successes, not only in his native Denmark but throughout Europe, where Elverskud was performed several hundred times, often conducted by Gade himself. Gade was especially admired in Germany, and on this album, Elverskud is not only played on period instruments for the first time but is also sung for the first time with the German text that brought the work international fame. Here the cantata is put together with Gade's breakthrough as an a capella composer, Funf Gesange from 1846, also in German. Perhaps this danish national composer isn't so danish after all. These works are beautifully performed by soloists Sophie Junker, Ivonne Fuchs, and Johannes Weisser, alongside the Danish National Vocal Ensemble.

Arthur Farwell has been called 'the most neglected composer in [American musical] history.' Hounded by accusations of 'cultural appropriation,' he has posthumously fallen prey to changing notions of cultural authenticity. As the leader of the 'Indianists' movement, Farwell believed it was a democratic obligation of Americans of European descent to try to understand the indigenous Americans they displaced and oppressed. To this end, he merged Indian music and lore with Western concert forms - today, a controversial practice. The performances here recorded originated at a landmark PostClassical Ensemble festival at Washington's National Cathedral. The Dakota String Quartet, resident quartet of the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra (SDSO), comprises principal string players of the orchestra. First violin Doosook Kim has been concertmaster with the SDSO since 1995 and performs as a soloist and chamber musician in the US and internationally.

The chamber music of Anton Arensky (1861-1906) embodies a happy and inspired synthesis of two contrasting sound-worlds: the peculiarly Russian language of Rimsky-Korsakov and the ‘Mighty Handful’, and that of Western-European accents exemplified in the sphere of chamber music by Brahms, but filtered through Tchaikovsky’s West-leaning approach. It’s Mendelssohn who comes to mind in the vernal surge of energy that opens the First Piano Trio which is Arensky’s best-known work beyond his piano music. The sombre third-movement elegy is a tribute to the cellist Davidoff, and accordingly opens with a soulful cello melody, before an impassioned finale banishes all introspection. Composed over a decade later in 1905, the Second Trio replaces such youthful energy for a more concise and refined harmonic idiom that even brings to mind Gabriel Fauré at points such as the polished, elusive second-movement Romance. After a delightfully capricious Scherzo full of subtle rhythmic shifts and conversational hesitations, the Second Trio concludes with an expansive set of variations on a noble theme in Tchaikovskian vein. Formed in 2016, the Carducci Trio has already won praise for its accomplished performances of Russian music in particular, having recently made a tour of China and given London performances at the Royal Albert Hall (Elgar Room) and Academy of St Martin in the Fields. This is the Trio’s debut recording.

Mozart was not yet seventeen when Lucio Silla was created in Milan one December evening of 1772, yet we can still distinguish in this youthful composition some of the elements that established the exceptionally-gifted child musician as the greatest composer of all times. Indeed, with Lucio Silla, although a neoclassical "opera seria" in every way, it seems that Mozart was already learning to deconstruct and to free the traditional forms of musical drama from archaic conventions. We can also identify in this work an aesthetic premise that Mozart didn't formulate until ten years later: it falls to music only to express and to reveal the psychological depths of the characters; and the poetry in the libretto should only be it's "obedient daughter". The opera is centered around the love Roman dictator Lucio Silla bears for his enemy's daughter Giunia, who favors the exiled senator Cecilio as the object of her affection. After many twists and turns, the lovers are united in marriage and Silla renounces his crown. Tenor Kurt Streit is Lucio Silla, and soprano Patricia Petibon is Giunia for the last time, after having gained international recognition thanks to her numerous performances in this role, while mezzo-soprano Silvia Tro Santafe is the ardent Cecilio. In this monumental production, Claus Guth finds a way to respect both the classical setting and the formal innovations that make the opera so interesting. Ivor Bolton conducts the Orchestra and Chorus of the Teatro Real.

Palestrina had a vast impact on the development of music. Hugely famous in his day, his reputation and influence grew even more following his death and his work can be seen as a summation of Renaissance polyphony. His musical legacy is prodigious even by the standards of the time—he wrote over 100 masses—and he was the first Renaissance composer to have a complete edition of almost his whole output published in modern notation. The eighth recording in The Sixteen’s celebrated series focuses on the Last Supper and the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross at the first Easter and includes the Missa Fratres ego enim accepi. Three settings from the Song of Songs also feature.

The Toronto Latvian Concert Association is pleased to offer this recording as a tribute to the significant contribution made by Canadians of Latvian heritage to music and culture in Canada. All three composers represented here found a welcoming refuge in this country after the Second World War and, in the process of rebuilding their lives and careers, left a lasting legacy, not just as creators & composers, but also as educators and mentors. While Latvians proudly think of themselves as being part of mainstream European culture, fifty plus years of soviet occupation left the country on the edge of obscurity. The TLCA worked hard to engage a broader audience to help counter that perception, offering a unique concert experience to all who are culturally aware and musically curious, wishing to hear what Latvia’s finest cultural ambassadors are doing. No longer just a concert presenter, the TLCA has recently broadened its mandate to include the commissioning of new works by Latvian Canadian composers and supporting legacy projects that will highlight the contribution made by artists of Latvian heritage to the cultural fabric of Canada.

The Catalogue d’Oiseaux of Olivier Messiaen forms an extraordinary and varied tribute to the landscape and bird-life of France, and to its composer’s powers of invention as he explored and developed innovations in harmony, melody and rhythm at a time when all the elements of music were in flux and up for grabs. The 13 compositions of the Catalogue are very different from one other, in length, form and intent. L’alouette lulu is a kind of antiphonal poem. La chouette hulotte boldly maps out territory for experimentation. Le chocard des alpes and Le buse variable are mostly articulated by shouts, where we are close to noise. The material is often raw and dissonant, but Messiaen often uses what are traditionally blocks of dissonance to create consonance. There are pieces full of melody – Le loriot or La bouscarle – and songs rich in timbre but not saturated with color like La merle de roche. He liked to convey the impression that he composed music in isolation from the world around him, inspired first and foremost by God and by the birds whom he called God’s musicians. The Italian pianist Ciro Longobardi has made a specialty of 20th and 21st-century music. He won a major piano prize at the crucible of European modernism in music, Darmstadt – only the second Italian pianist to do so – and he has given Italian premieres of significant works by the likes of Ives, Kurtág and Xenakis. With both an assured technique and a sympathetic grasp of the idioms of the great music of our own time, he is well placed to make an outstanding contribution to the rich history of the Catalogue d’Oiseaux on record.

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REVIEW:

Throughout the cycle Messiaen produces richly intricate music that should be listened to actively – do something else whilst you listen, and you miss out on aspects of the music. This is where Ciro Longobardi does well, his performance makes you listen, through its diverse use of dynamics and the expert use of silences. His playing is concise and bright and is best listened to with the accompanying booklet, in which his notes on the music expertly set the scene. It is a long time since I listened to Yvonne Loriod’s recording of the Catalogue d’Oiseaux, so I cannot make a comparison with the premiere artist. However, in comparison with the recording of Anatol Ugorski for DG (474 3452), this somewhat quicker interpretation stands up well, with Ugorski sounding a little too relaxed now, especially when compared with the wonderful performance of Pierre-Laurent Aimard (PTC5186670). For me personally, Aimard would be my preferred recording, he has the knack of sounding relaxed even when the music is not, but this new performance from Longobardi is not far behind, he is confident in the more challenging parts whilst as already stated his use of dynamics in the slower, quieter passages, as well as his adherence to the silences is excellent. The recorded piano sound is very good, whilst the booklet notes set the scene well, making this a worthy alternative to the Pierre-Laurent Aimard recording.

– MusicWeb International

Swiss pianist Francesco Piemontesi interprets Schubert’s last three piano sonatas (D958-D960) on his PENTATONE debut album, after years of engagement with these extraordinary works. These sonatas continue to fascinate pianists and listeners until this very day. They are arguably among the most existential music ever written for the piano, full of beauty and sadness, celebrating life and at the same time anticipating the composer’s untimely death. Even if Schubert was barely thirty years old when he wrote these works, they reveal the otherworldly and detached nature of what is often described as “late style”, while the music remains highly expressive and personal.

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REVIEW:

Piemontesi’s instinctive good taste means he never indulges in histrionics, and operates on the principle that understatement can carry more emotional power than its converse. This performance of D958 is the best I have ever heard. His D959 exhibits the same virtue. The D960, recorded live and technically immaculate, is glorious.

– BBC Music Magazine

In his autobiography, Igor Stravinsky wrote of his not having had an ''great liking'' for the combination of strings and piano. That there nevertheless are a number of chamber works by him featuring the violin is to a large extent due to the violinist Samuel Dushkin. The two were introduced to each other by Stravinsky's german music publisher who wanted to persuade him to compose a violin concerto. They obviously hit it off: their collaboration continued after the concerto had come into being in 1931, and they devised a recital programme to perform together on tours. The centrepiece was Duo concertant which Stravinsky completed in 1932 as his only original composition for violin and piano. Rather than looking for common ground between the two instruments, Stravinsky aimed to emphasize their individuality in a work that he himself claimed was ''determined by my love of the pastoral poets of antiquity and their scholarly art and technique''. The other pieces on this album are, with one exception, arrangements of Stravinsky's own works including The Firebird, Petrushka and Le rossignol. The majority were made for and in collaboration with Dushkin, but a few come from the 1920's and were intended for the violinist Paul Kochanski. One of these is the Suite for Violin and Piano, arranged from the ballet Pulcinella - material that Stravinsky revisited in the 1930's in order to make a new version for Dushkin. With this programme, and in the company of the eminent Russian pianist Peter Laul, the highly virtuosic and temperamental violinist Ilya Gringolts makes his return to BIS.

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REVIEW:

On this fine new BIS release, young Russian violinist Ilya Gringolts turns to music of Igor Stravinsky, featuring his two major works for violin and piano, the Duo Concertante and the Suite for Violin and Piano, among other works. All is played to perfection. Excellent, natural sonic picture. Recommended!

– Classical CD Review

This is a fabulous recital showcasing a stunning array of musical invention by the great shape-shifting composer of the 20th century. The engineers at BIS have deft hands when it comes to arranging microphones, and the presentation of the CD is especially fine with photogravure fern images on front and back. For fiddle or Stravinsky fans, this production is not to be missed.

– Audiophile Audition

Sensing a special relationship between Arvo Pärt and J.S. Bach, Jörgen van Rijen on his first recording for BIS Records brings together music by the two composers. It’s a relationship which has several aspects. First, Pärt has readily admitted to his love for the work of Bach, referring to it in titles such as Collage über BACH, but also by using the motif BACH (B flat-A-C-B). In addition, both composers share a fascination for religion, while at the same time composing music that is almost mathematically constructed, possessing an underlying order that forms the basis of its timelessness. In collaboration with the composer, van Rijen has adapted four works by Pärt for the trombone, including the celebrated piece Fratres, which exists in numerous versions, as well as the two religiously themed An den Wassern zu Babel … and Vater unser. Pärt’s open-minded attitude to adaptations of his works is also something he has in common with Bach, who regularly reused his own compositions, rearranging them for new occasions. Bach also ‘borrowed’ from other composers, and the three concertos heard here are all arrangements for solo organ of works by Italian composers, which van Rijen in his turn has arranged for trombone and strings. Principal trombonist of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Jörgen van Rijen is here supported by his colleagues in Camerata RCO.

In 1819 the Viennese music publisher and composer Anton Diabelli sent a short waltz to a long list of composers. These included Schubert, Hummel, a very young Franz Liszt and, as the most prominent composer of the time, naturally Beethoven. Diabelli was proposing to compile an anthology of variations on his own waltz, one from each composer. Beethoven responded in a characteristic manner: first there was nothing, and then there was nothing … and then, in 1823, there was an entire, and monumental, set of no less than thirty-three variations. There are several possible reasons for this, one being that Beethoven felt that it was below his dignity to take part in a project of this nature. What is certain, however, is that he must have found Diabelli’s theme intriguing material to work with – and against: Beethoven often seems to poke fun at the waltz, starting already in the first variation by turning it into a pompous march. But like all truly great variation works the Diabelli Variations take in the high as well as the low, jokes as well as drama – or serenity, as in Variation 24, a Fughetta, clearly inspired by the Aria in Bach’s Goldberg Variations. As the last large-scale piano work by Beethoven, the Diabelli Variations form a fitting close to Ronald Brautigam’s traversal of the complete solo piano music. Described in International Record Review as ‘a Beethoven player whose musical discernment is a constant source of wonderment’, Brautigam has through the course of this series performed works composed between 1783 and 1825, using four different fortepianos. On the present release we hear a copy of a 4-stringed fortepiano by Conrad Graf from 1822 – similar to Beethoven’s own last instrument, which Graf supplied him with in 1826, a year before the composer’s death.

The Grammy Award-winning Pacifica Quartet and multiple Grammy-winning guitarist Sharon Isbin join forces for an uncommon album of music for strings and guitar from the Baroque to the mid-20th century. Souvenirs of Spain & Italy is the first joint recording by these renowned artists and marks Isbin’s Cedille Records debut. The program spotlights Italian-born composers influenced by Spanish idioms. Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Quintet for Guitar and String Quartet, Op. 143, is a seldom-heard gem demanding virtuosity from every player. Written for guitarist Andrés Segovia, it’s “an urbane work, rich in vibrant themes and dialogues among individual lines,” critic Allan Kozinn writes in the liner notes. Isbin and the Pacifica play Emilio Pujol’s guitar arrangement of Antonio Vivaldi’s lute Concerto in D Major, RV 93. Isbin’s guitar work in the dreamlike, meditative Largo movement features her own Baroque ornamentation. Luigi Boccherini’s Quintet for Guitar and String Quartet in D Major, G. 448, melds the emerging classical style of late 18th-century Vienna with hints of Spanish flamenco. Spanish composer Joaquín Turina’s string quartet movement, La Oración del Torero, Op. 34, evokes the fervor of a matador’s private prayer before entering the bullring.

REVIEWS:

At least since the days of lutes and viols composers and performers recognized and exploited the favorable combination of plucked and bowed strings. And yet we don’t often hear such a lineup these days; if we do it’s usually the same relatively small roster of works, most notably including the Vivaldi concerto heard on this recording, justly popular for its catchy, lively outer movements and beguiling (oft used, and abused) Largo. While the list of most commonly performed pieces may not be extensive, you may be surprised to learn, as I was, that the rather special genre highlighted on this program–guitar and string quartet–boasts more than 300 works, ranging from the 18th century to the present, by composers from Boccherini to Brouwer, Diamond to Dougherty. (I learned this from an article in the Spring 2019 issue of Classical Guitar magazine, which I recommend to anyone interested in this subject.)

The rest of the program assembled here, by an it-doesn’t-get-any-better-than-this group of musicians, constitutes an easy and engaging introduction to this repertoire, beginning with another favorite, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Quintet Op. 143, written in 1950 for Andrés Segovia. Much of its popularity certainly stems from its knowing, skillful writing for this particular combination of instruments that showcases the guitar while also exploiting the textural, melodic, and harmonic possibilities of the string quartet, especially memorable in the affecting second movement, Andante mesto, which the composer declared to be his “favorite”. Nowhere is the guitarist’s voice more articulate or expressive as here, or in the following Scherzo.

Boccherini is another big name, and his D major quintet, like his many other “guitar” quintets, was fashioned from already existing, non-guitar chamber works. It’s a fine piece whose chief attraction is its–very attractive–final movement, appropriately titled “Fandango”, which is definitely a crowd-pleaser, enhanced by castanets and tambourine. While there’s no denying the sheer, easy pleasure of listening to the above-mentioned guitar/strings pieces, I found one of my favorites–next to the Castelnuovo-Tedesco slow movement and Boccherini Fandango–to be Turina’s 1925 work La oración del torero (The bullfighter’s prayer), originally written for a type of Spanish lute quartet, but later arranged by the composer (as heard here) for string quartet. It’s moody and gay and colorful and dramatic and eloquent–the sort of piece you would be grateful to hear in any string quartet recital. Who cares if it doesn’t remind you of a prayer, or a bullfighter: it’s an excellent piece.

Sharon Isbin needs no introduction to any classical guitar fan, or to anyone who’s paid more than casual attention to the classical music and performance scene since the 1980s. One of the world’s greatest advocates for her instrument, award-winner, teacher (founding director of the guitar department at Juilliard), pioneer in new repertoire, Isbin’s appearance here informs the music with an authority–enlivened by her unique ornamentation and occasional improvisatory licks–that elevates the performances far beyond the merely respectable or routine efforts of some of her very competent colleagues. And the Pacifica Quartet, commanding its own list of impressive achievements and honors, is a more than worthy partner. Perhaps we may even look forward to a further exploration of guitar/string quartet repertoire by these musicians? Brouwer? Daugherty? Miguel Bareilles? Gabriela Lena Frank? Thanks for this–and we’ll be watching.

– ClassicsToday (10/10; David Vernier)

This release on Chicago’s Cedille label features mostly well-worn pieces for guitar and ensemble; the ensemble here is the Pacifica String Quartet. The most familiar of all is the Vivaldi Guitar Concerto in D major, RV 93, heard here in an arrangement by Emilio Pujol and tinkered with by Isbin herself. Her execution here is flawless, and the effect is haunting. This is a treat for fans of Isbin, who’s doing more teaching than recording these days.

– All Music Guide (James Manheim)

Schubert’s empathy with women is evident in his body of songs, which include songs to, by, about and for women. Devised by Carolyn Sampson and Joseph Middleton, the present recital brings us each of those possibilities and more. The playwright Helmina von Chézy wrote the text to the tender Romanze, intending it for the play Rosamunde, Princess of Cyprus to which Schubert composed incidental music. Another female author, Marianne von Willemer, wrote the two Suleika poems for Goethe, who included them (under his own name) in the collection West-östlicher Divan. And no less than seven of the other songs on the album are also associated with Goethe, and his characters Mignon (from Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre) and Gretchen (from Faust). Schubert was for a while almost obsessed with the mysterious and waif-like Mignon, making several settings of the poems associated with her. Less of an enigma but equally moving, Schubert’s Gretchen sings of awakening desire (Gretchen am Spinnrade) and laments her coming disgrace (Gretchens Bitte). Carolyn Sampson and Joseph Middleton have collaborated on several acclaimed projects for BIS, most recently with the counter-tenor Iestyn Davies as their companion. Here they close their Soprano’s Schubertiade with three settings of poems by Walter Scott, albeit in German translations. The three ‘Ellen Songs’ are from the verse-romance The Lady of the Lake from 1810, with the last one, ‘Schubert’s Ave Maria’, being one of the composer’s best-known and most loved compositions.

Welcome to The Sixteen's 40th anniversary album. Can it really be 40 years since a fledgling group of singers gave their first concert in May 1979? To celebrate this milestone, we have chosen 40 tracks which have defined this acclaimed ensemble over the last four decades and which display it's incredible versatility, as well as the sheer range of music and styles it has covered. Featuring music from the last 600 years and with personal recommendations from The Sixteen's members both past and present, as well as the longest-serving members of the administrative team, this beautifully packaged album promises to be the must-have collection for all fans of choral music. "Forty years on, The Sixteen's supple, fastidiously nuanced soundworld continues to serve 'ancient' and 'modern' with aplomb." (BBC Music Magazine)

The second Naxos recording by the elite conservatory students of the National Orchestral Institute Philharmonic explores further examples of the breadth of American music. Randall Thompson, famed for his vocal works, is represented by his Symphony No. 2 which, with its syncopation and echoes of jazz, helped to establish a bright, vibrant American style. After an inauspicious debut, Samuel Barber’s tautly cyclical Symphony No. 1 became the first American symphonic piece to be performed at the Salzburg Festival. Samuel Adams offers a contemporary voice in Drift and Providence, which spectacularly captures the sound of the Pacific Ocean by incorporating electronic elements. The National Orchestral Institute Philharmonic at the University of Maryland’s Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center is formed each June from the musicians of the National Orchestral Institute. These musicians of extraordinary talent are chosen through rigorous international auditions and coalesce into one of the most dynamic orchestras in the country. Focused on creating future musicians and leaders in the world of orchestras, its alumni now occupy important positions in virtually every major symphony orchestra in the United States.

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REVIEW:

This is the second recording by the National Orchestral Institute Philharmonic, a summer training programme for conservatory students. It’s as impressive as its predecessor in terms of the quality of orchestral execution, and perhaps even more valuable in its choice of repertoire.

– Gramophone