Austrian classical composer Joseph Haydn was instrumental in his contributions to musical form. He earned the epithets "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet," but also contributed many works to the genre of the Mass. On this release, eight of his masses have been gathered. Some of these works he wrote for the Esterhazy family, for whom he served as Kapellmeister and court composer. This release begins with the Missa Cellensis in honorem Beatissimae Virginis Mariae, which was written in 1766 after Haydn was promoted to Kapellmeister at Esterhaza. The mass is dedicated to the pilgrimage cult of Mariazell, Styria. Rounding out the release is one of Haydn's most popular masses, his Missa in tempore belli, or Mass in time of war. The work is also known as the Kettle Bell mass for it's dramatic use of timpani. He composed the work in August 1796 when Austria was mobilizing into war. Reflecting the troubled mood of this time, Haydn integrated references to battle in the Benedictus and Agnus Dei movements. Artists on this work include the Gachinger Kantorei Stuttgart, Bach-Collegium Stuttgart, Oregon Bach Festival Orchestra, and more.

First of all, this is a composer, pianist and conductor who has wrongly been marginalized from contemporary awareness. He was born in Frankfurt on February 17, 1850, and died there on January 11, 1907. These dates show him to be an artist of an era characterized by a multidimensional intellectual climate and a psychological outlook that harked back to traditional values on the one hand whilst holding out revolutionary prospects on the other. As an artist, Urspruch was respected by his contemporaries and well established on the music scene. He began teaching at Dr. Hoch’s Conservatory at just 28 years of age, at a time when Clara Schumann was teaching there too. The director there was Joachim Raff, who was also his teacher. After Raff’s death in 1882, Urspruch moved to the newly founded Raff Conservatory and taught there for the rest of his life. He dedicated his piano concerto to Raff. His works encompass many genres, from piano pieces through song cycles, chamber music, symphonies, choral works and his comic opera Das Unmoglichste von allem, which was premiered in 1897. His life was centered around his family. His close personal friendship with Franz Liszt brought him a level of support that went far beyond the usual kind of appreciation shown by the more famous and older composer.

-----

REVIEW:

Urspruch wrote some memorable and interesting music and really deserves to be heard more often and I am very glad that someone has taken up the mantle of playing his works. Ana-Marija Markovina is more than capable of dealing with the sometimes extreme technical demands which this composer makes of his performer plus she is able to play with a lovely singing tone where required. She can also cope excellently with the rapid changing moods in this music and does not overplay the sometimes amazing technical demands. The superb recorded sound helps the clarity of the notes and the beauty in the music stand out. She clearly enjoys playing these works and always seems to be aware of what the music is about. I should also point out her disc of Hugo Wolf Piano music (on the Genuin label, number 87091) is well worth seeking out – his piano transcription / fantasies on works by Wagner are fascinating! I unreservedly recommend this set to all lovers of virtuoso piano music who also have an interest in the more neglected corners of the repertoire. I really wish that Urspruch had written more solo piano music so that there would be more for Ana Marija-Markovina to record.

– MusicWeb International

Giacinto Scelsi was much more than a composer. He was a poet, a writer, and an intellectual. Perhaps one of the greatest of the twentieth century. He is best remembered for writing music based only around one pitch, which he altered through microtonal oscillations, harmonic allusions, and changes in timbre and dynamics. This new release is the seventh volume in Stradivarius’s exploration of his works, and features four works which utilize the piano, violin, and a combination of the two. Performing these works are violinist Marco Fusi and pianist Anna D’Errico, both of whom are experts in the field of modern music and the avant garde.

Günther Herbig knew the Berlin Symphony Orchestra well, even before being made Principal Conductor in 1977 of what is now the Konzerthaus orchestra. He had deputized in that post from 1966 to 1972. Solo flautist Richard Waage, an orchestra member from 1961 to 2002, also valued the work ethic of his Principal Conductor – notably when it came to the execution of solo parts. “With Herbig things were ‘more open’, when you had worked your way into a certain context, than with other conductors. He allowed you more freedom.” On one occasion when he had the opportunity to see Herbig’s conducting score, he was impressed by how every harmonic step was marked, so that the score bore traces of a musicological analysis. Solo flautist Richard Waage, an orchestra member from 1961 to 2002, also valued the work ethic of his Principal Conductor – notably when it came to the execution of solo parts. “With Herbig things were ‘more open’, when you had worked your way into a certain context, than with other conductors. He allowed you more freedom. You could offer more as an individual. I liked that a lot.” On one occasion when he had the opportunity to see Herbig’s conducting score, he was impressed by how every harmonic step was marked, so that the score bore traces of a musicological analysis. “This was the mathematical impulse” characteristic, he judged, of Herbig’s way of working. This architectural, formally structured approach to the music fitted well with the recording technique of those days, which did not allow breakdown into such small steps as today. Arches of tension thus sound more plausible, because there are fewer pieces to put together. “When you have long takes, of course that makes it all more organic,” concludes Richard Waage. It will surely have been these working conditions and the conductor’s specific style that made it possible, even in such an unpretentious piece as the Pavane, “to bring out the character of mourning”, which so moved Jürgen Kögel and other participants. This recording contains Ravel’s symphonic works La Valse, Ma Mère l'Oye, Pavane pour une infante défunte and last but not least the famous Bolero.

This first complete edition of organ music by Pietro Alessandro Yon represents an important piece in the mosaic of the Italian organ production of the Cecilian generation where Marco Enrico Bossi, Giovanni Tebaldini, Oreste Ravanello, were the main exponents. Pietro Yon, friend of Bossi, was like a career concert artist, and was acclaimed by the masses for the virtuosity and singability of his performances; he made his fortune in America, where he developed his musical talent like his great business skills, never forgetting Italy, which always remained in his heart. The young Bolognese organist Elisa Teglia performs this repertoire on four historical instruments alternating pieces of rare expressiveness with others based on spectacular technicalities, often including popular themes, national anthems and famous melodies, that Pietro Yon used for bewitching the crowds at his extraordinary performances.

Thys Yool is a four-part programme of medieval music in which four images central to the Christmas story are brought together. Beginning with a sometimes melancholy picture of earth-bound humanity (Winter and Wassail), the record moves through nativity songs (A Child Is Born) towards the point at which Christian and pagan traditions come together in an adoration of the Virgin which is often expressed in the passionate language of the courtly lover. A sense of human perceptions being profoundly altered by the events of Christmas is evoked in Mary’s Son, Goodwill on Earth and a French 12th century conductus touches on the theme of Rebirth. Thys Yool has been a popular Christmas title in the Nimbus catalogue for many years. The Martin Best Ensemble, led by English singer, lutenist, and guitarist Martin Best, specializes in early music, minstrel songs, and French troubadour traditions.

Salomone Rossi's output was influenced by more than the events of his times and such a figure as Monteverdi. What makes him different is that he was Jewish by birth and upbringing and was deeply affected by his relations within the Jewish community in Mantua and the age-old music of the chanting of the Old Testament Book of Psalms in the religious ceremonies he would have attended. Echoes of this ancient psalmody can be heard in the profoundly religious feeling of his arias, almost as though Rossi were attempting to keep his distance from a trend - already present in the late 1500s due to social, cultural and aesthetic factors – towards using sacred cantatas as an exercise in baroque vocal extravagance to showcase the skill of the performer rather than inspire religious feeling in the listener.

The Fitzwilliam String Quartet celebrates a remarkable milestone with this special fiftieth anniversary recording of Shostakovich’s last three string quartets. Fittingly, this landmark recording will look back to the music which first propelled the Fitzwilliam to international prominence. Shostakovich entrusted the Fitzwilliam with the western premieres of his last three quartets (Nos. 13, 14, 15), and before long they had become the first ever group to perform and record all fifteen, winning many international awards along the way. The highly innovative String Quartet No.13 is notable for its unique single-movement form and the virtuosic viola writing, which shines a spotlight on founding member Alan George. No.14, despite its twelve-tone structure, is perhaps the most accessible of Shostakovich’s late quartets with a wealth of identifiable melodies. The six movements of No.15 are profoundly melancholic and intimate, with the composer’s obsession with death a clear influence. The Fitzwilliam’s pre-eminence in the interpretation of these works has persisted: Benjamin Britten reported after Shostakovich’s death in 1975 that the composer had told him the Fitzwilliam were his ‘preferred performers of my quartets’.

Opus 2 & 4: Chamber Sonatas is the third in The Avison Ensemble’s celebration of Corelli’s chamber music and the fifth album in their critically acclaimed series of recordings with Linn. Released to mark the 300th anniversary of the death of the composer, the ensemble’s greatly anticipated series explores the six opera of the eminent Italian’s chamber music: the concerti grossi, violin sonatas, chamber sonatas and church sonatas. Popular since their publication, Corelli’s two sets of chamber sonatas are a pinnacle of Baroque Italian instrumental music. They demonstrate a superior level of craftsmanship; they are of the highest quality, exquisitely refined and a good example of perfection in music. Corelli’s contribution to the history of violin performance was immense: all six of his published collections of instrumental music demonstrate his exceptional skill as a violinist and composer, but it was in his chamber sonatas that he first used what was to be known as the ‘Corelli clash’.

-----

REVIEWS:

These performances occupy fresh ground. Beznosiuk and the Avison Ensemble have clearly given much thought and attention to their performances: beautifully understated, and allowing the music to speak for itself.

– Gramophone

The Avison Ensemble captures their essence in graceful, finely controlled performances - by turns lyrical, fleet, playful, imbued with an effortless style that eschews mannerisms and fireworks but rather lets the music speak for itself. The string sound is silky and clean; the ensemble neat and subtly articulated.

– BBC Music Magazine

In the 19th century, the salons of the well-to-do and the aristocracy hosted spectacular virtuoso piano versions of favorite opera tunes of the day; this project puts a contemporary spin on this enchanting tradition with the unforgettable melodies of the tango of Argentina. An increasing number of music lovers have found in the tango an art that cuts across barriers of language and culture and the genre has made it's mark forcefully in the media and mass communication. The prime mover in this was Astor Piazzolla who broadened the horizons of the tango by taking it out of Argentinian folklore and into concert halls throughout the world. And audiences everywhere have been won over by the richly passionate character which has ensured the tango's universal appeal. "Not Just a Tango" is a crossover project for concert performance encompassing tango, classical music and jazz. The historical, stylistic and musical foundation is, of course, the tango of Argentina. A masculine element (the piano) and a feminine element (the violin) have been added to mirror this harmoniously sensual dance in sound. What makes "Not Just A Tango" special is that arrangements assimilated the tango of folk music and popular song and expanded it with variations that take in jazz and hints of musical forms which might at first seem unusual, such as the waltz or rumba. Yet the spirit of the tango always comes through in the ever-growing excitement of these brilliantly intense virtuoso musical dialogues between soloists who are fully each other's equal in timbre and line.

It is no secret that Rossini never wasted his energy and, partly out of haste and partly out of laziness, he was always ready to resurrect pages of music which would have otherwise been destined to oblivion. Thus, when in 1822 he was invited by Prince Klemens von Metternich to commemorate with suitable music the Congress of the European heads of state which would take place in Verona-to "harmonize" the souls, as it were-this proclaimed "God of harmony" gladly accepted. Il vero omaggio ("sincere" act of devotion toward the Austrian Emperor) was a recycling of the pastoral cantata La riconoscenza, performed by Rossini in Naples the year before. The sequence of pieces which constitute Il vero omaggio confirm Rossini's own statement: the musical nature of the cantata is quite similar to the first act of a normal opera. As such, it was enjoyed by the public of the period, partly due to the fact that the performance was staged. What distinguishes such a cantata from an opera is not, indeed, the visual aspect, as one might assume, but rather the absence of a veritable dramatic design. The subject of the cantata was thus a mere pretense for staging a public panegyric to the Austrian Emperor by means of a grandiose concert of vocal music. The work is interpreted here by conductor Herbert Handt.

Innovative music printer Pierre Attaingnant published the first editions of keyboard music ever to appear in France in 1531. Only one copy of each of these seven tiny but crucially important volumes has survived, in which anonymous composers made arrangements of some of the most beautiful chansons, motets and dances from the reign of Francois I- keyboard music that shows France at the forefront of developments in this field. Glen Wilson has corrected the countless errors in these original sources, restoring this rare and enchanting music and allowing it to shine in it's original glory.

Note: Also included in this set is a bonus CD of Christmas songs.

The Vienna Boys’ Choir is one of the oldest boys’ choirs in the world and still a living tradition after more than 500 years. Even Haydn sang there and Schubert also commenced his musical career there. Antonio Salieri was a member of the admissions jury. What is captivating about these recordings is, on the one hand, the clarity of the textual and musical declamation and, on the other, a very special authentic charm deriving from the slight Viennese accent. In the performance by the Vienna Boys’ Choir, it is a question not just of perfect pronunciation and intonation, but also of a sensual musical element that is frequently overlooked in Mozart and Haydn, but that is absolutely vital.

Acquiring life skills during a challenging, fragile phase of life — learning to belong, to feel seen and included, learning to build friendships — all of this lies at the core of the Nidaros Cathedral Girls' Choir's mission. The Requiem in Andrew Smith's version, commissioned by the choir, is loosely based on the Roman Catholic mass for the dead. Several of the texts of the traditional Requiem Mass have been replaced, however, with biblical references to the tragic fate of children, reflecting the all-too-frequent conflicts of today in which the young are innocent victims. The musical material in the Requiem takes its inspiration from Gregorian chant. Melodic fragments of the ancient requiem mass can be heard in the background. Trygve Seim's improvising saxophone makes up an integral part of the whole, yet lives a life of its own in close companionship with the singers and Ståle Storløkken on organ. The palette is expanded with the glorious strings of TrondheimSolistene in Ståle Kleiberg's Hymn to Love and The Light (with Petra Bjørkhaug, organ). These works add dimensions of faith, hope and love. And light too, when all seems dark. In life there are moments to treasure, and challenges to overcome. In the words of Helge Torvund: The light you need exists.

After the great success and Grammy nominated album of Piano Concertos by Russian composer Zara Levina, this recording focuses now on different types of chamber music compositions by the same composer. Again, the Riga-born pianist Maria Lettberg plays the leading part on this recording and shows the high creativity of the unjustified forgotten composer. Zara Alexandrovna Levina, born 1906 in Alexandrovsk (Ukraine), witnessed two world wars, the Revolution as well as the collapse and totalitarian reconstruction of her homeland. She was under the constant ideological pressure of the existentially threatening state censorship, which was particularly exerted by the notorious RAPM (Russian Association of Proletarian Musicians) in the 1920s and 1930s, driving her to the brink of a creative and health disaster. However, Zara Levina was able to retain her own and unmistakable voice in her music. She died in Moscow on 1976 as a respected and much-performed composer beloved of musicians such as David Oistrakh, Maria Grinberg, Victor Knuschewitzki and the public alike.

REVIEW:

Zara Levina’s Piano Concertos made something of an impression when Capriccio brought out its disc in which Maria Lettberg featured prominently, as she does in this latest disc devoted to Levina’s music. Here the focus turns to instrumental and chamber music.

There are two piano sonatas. The first dates from 1925 when she was 19 and is an exercise in ultra-compression; it’s the size of a Scarlatti sonata at rather less than six minutes in length. As is so evident in her concertos she was profoundly influenced by Rachmaninov, and the intensity of the chording reinforces the fact in this taut, descriptive work. Over a quarter of a century later she wrote her second sonata, cast in three conventionally-sized movements. There’s almost childlike innocence in its opening Allegretto, a pellucid sense of generosity too, though the central Andante sees the music deepen in expression that encourages a fiery and passionate Allegro finale. The work progresses from sweetness to purposeful drama by a process of clarification of expressive intensity. Maria Lettberg is the perfect exponent.

In 1928 she wrote a Poème for viola and piano, a sliver of a piece shorter even than the First Piano Sonata. Nevertheless, it manages to convey a rich and refined elegance and allows the viola a brief central panel to muse rhapsodically. The Violin Sonata, a work that predates the Second Piano Sonata by a year, is a piece that combines attractive themes with pellucid writing. The solemn nobility of the central slow movement also sports a beautiful lyric section that swings deliciously before returning to the melancholic tread of the opening paragraphs. The finale, meanwhile, has puckish Prokofiev-like leanings and proves another opportunity for enlivening variation of mood and tone from Levina.

The Three Piano Pieces of 1940—a Wiegenlied, Dance and Toccata—exude light spirits. The first is played with a rich sentiment that almost defeats the chilly acoustic, the second is fulsome and energetic, and the third is a darting, exciting affair with some unusual Iberian-flamenco evocations. The Fantasy on Bashkirian Themes is another six-minute piece, this time for violin and piano dating from 1942. The dancing airs are delicious; there are quirky folkloric elements at work, too, and plenty of virtuosic flourishes for the fiddle. Interesting too, that those Bashkirian themes sound to my ears very like Gershwin and Robert Russell Bennett. Despite the 1943 date the Canzonetta for cello is deft and relaxed. This leaves the Hebrew Rhapsody, a work that occupied her for 25 years, on and off. It was finally completed shortly before her death but written for two hands. Here we hear a four-hand arrangement made by Katia Tchemberdji who joins Lettberg for this 11-minute piece. The music moves, perhaps expectedly given its rhapsodic and ethnic nature, from exuberance to melancholia to fiery drive. It’s really only in this work that Jewish elements are uppermost in her music. There’s no real clue as to why a four-hand version was played instead of the original—perhaps the added density may have something to do with it.

It’s the arranger who has written the pertinent booklet notes. All the performers—I’ve only mentioned Lettberg by name as she appears so often—are excellent and the recordings are, as noted, just a little chilly but very clear. Levina’s music continues to impress. In addition to studio recordings I can’t help wondering what, if anything, has survived in radio archives.

– MusicWeb International (Jonathan Woolf)

Jennifer Koh, a “brilliant violinist” (The New Yorker) who performs with “conviction, ferocity, and an irresistible sense of play” (Washington Post), showcases works by Kaija Saariaho, the visionary and influential Finnish composer with whom Koh has closely collaborated and feels a deep personal bond. The album offers the world-premiere recording of Saariaho’s Light and Matter for violin, cello, and piano, inspired by sunlit colors and shadows in a city park outside the composer’s window. Also receiving its first recording is the violin and cello version of Aure, meaning a gentle breeze, created for and dedicated to Koh and cellist Anssi Karttunen, another champion of Saariaho’s music. The album’s largest work is the one that first attracted Koh to the composer: the violin concerto Graal Théâtre, written for Gidon Kremer, which Koh has performed many times and performs here in the composer’s chamber-orchestra version. Grove Music Online notes that the work illustrates “Saariaho’s rich and expansive string style, but places greater emphasis on melody than earlier works.”

Tocar, Spanish for “to touch,” explores the playful and tactile aspects of the word through violin and piano. Cloud Trio for violin, viola, and cello was prompted by shape-shifting clouds in the French Alps. Saariaho X Koh is the violinist’s twelfth Cedille Records album in a discography that includes the Grammy-nominated String Poetic.

Ensemble Marsyas' recording of Johann Fasch's finest chamber music demonstrates why the man and his music were so appreciated in his own lifetime. Founding member Peter Whelan and "the queen of the recorder" (BBC Radio 3) Pamela Thorby are the soloists challenged with meeting the virtuoso demands of this engaging music. The four-movement Quartet in B flat major for recorder, oboe, violin and continuo is among one of Fasch's most popular works; full of catchy tunes and contrapuntal ingenuity in equal measure, virtuosity is demanded from all concerned. The Concerto in F major for recorder and strings was only recently attributed to Fasch. It is full of characteristic Fasch-isms and of the same dramatic quasi-recitative style as his Bassoon Concerto. Upon release Fasch: Quartets and Concertos was named a Chamber Choice by BBC Music Magazine and awarded the maximum five stars for both Performance and Recording.

Following his acclaimed Linn debut, One Byrde in Hande, Richard Egarr turns to the music of Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck for his new recording of fantasias, toccatas and variations. As well as being a notable composer Sweelinck was a skilled improviser and keyboard virtuoso whose knowledge of the stylistic innovations of his English contemporaries, such as Byrd and Morley, was evident in his work. Egarr performs on a harpsichord designed after Ruckers (1638); it's strict �-comma meantone tuning highlights the amazing chromaticism present in Sweelinck's music. This is particularly evident in the famous Fantasia Crommatica, a highly improvisatory, boundary-pushing work that showcases many of Sweelinck's innovations in keyboard composition. Within his lifetime Sweelinck was most celebrated for his variations on the popular tune Mein junges Leben hat ein Endt; Egarr relishes the intricate counterpoint which builds from the simple theme into a masterpiece of inexhaustible invention and limitless variety. A selection of fantasias and toccatas complete the programme in which Egarr's passion for the harpsichord and Sweelinck's music are enthusiastically conveyed.

Brahms wrote his String Quartet in B-flat major, Op. 67 in 1876 and its alrgely unclouded and cheerful qualities culminate in a theme and variations finale of exceptional imagination and mastery of form. His last chamber music was inspired by a great exponent of the clarinet, Richard Mühlfeld, for whom he wrote four works including the Clarinet Quintet. This dazzling masterpiece is notable not only for its underlying elegiac mood but for its thematic interrelation and teh wide expressive range of the solo instrument. The first two String Quartets can be heard on 8573433 in performances described by ClassicsToday as "... passionate expressions of these scores."

-----

REVIEWS:

There can be no gainsaying that this is a gorgeous performance of Brahms’s Clarinet Quintet; and the New Zealand String Quartet’s performance of Brahms’s String Quartet No. 3 is no less compelling.

– Fanfare

Brahms String Quartet Op. 67 is an extraordinary piece and the NZSQ gives it a truly fine performance. An equally magnificent performance of one of Brahms’s late masterpieces, the Clarinet Quintet, Op. 115, finds the James Campbell's gorgeous clarinet in perfect balance and in equal partnership with the strings, which is as it should be.

– Musical Toronto

This recording is a road trip through the last 50 years of minimalist and ambient piano music. From the early sound tapestries of minimalists Philip Glass and John Adams, via David Lang and Arvo Part who combine repetition with melody and harmonic colors, to the atmospheric and quiet worlds of Ryuichi Sakamoto, Max Richter and Nils Frahm, what captivates the listener on these recordings is a sense of ambience, an evocation of space. Feico Deutekom breathes life and shape into these works, many of which have a delicately melancholy tone. He is able to convey both the rhythmic complexity and the panoramic quality of this music, where silence and the spaces lingering between the notes are often as important as the notes themselves. This release includes the world premiere recording of Philip Glass's Mishima Sonata, an arrangement that Feico Deutekom made with permission of the composer of three movements from the movie soundtrack of Mishima, originally composed for strings.

This release is a compilation of some of the best music in the Sterling Records library. Sterling is a Swedish-owned record label of more than 150 titles specializing in orchestral music from the Romantic era. It was founded by Bo Hyttner in 1980. Most of the albums released by Sterling contain previously unrecorded works. Alongside the main series of Romantic Orchestral classics, Sterling also publishes an Artist series, dedicated to musical excellence from Swedish performers, and a Historical Recordings series sourced from the Swedish Radio Archives. Bo Hyttner writes of this release: “By the mid-nineteenth century orchestral music had evolved into a large and diverse entity, composers created their own musical styles incorporating regional folk songs and traditional melodies in their work. Picturesque instruments, such as the harp, became regular members of the orchestra as Classical formalities dissolved in favor of ‘tone-poems.’ From the 1820s, for around 100 years, the Romantic style of orchestral writing was in continuous development by many hundreds of composers. Musical dictionaries report their names, and list their works, even so many have been forgotten or even lost. Perhaps not all of them were individual enough to keep a place in the repertoire. Perhaps some lived at time, and in a place, where music was not fully appreciated… I hope that by experiencing this sample taken from our Sterling catalogue you will be able to grasp the enormity of this lesser known musical treasure trove. In my mind all of this music is worth preserving as it forms a vital part of our musical heritage. I also believe that this music contains great beauty whilst also reflecting each country’s cultural development and history.”

Also Available: Masaaki Suzuki plays Bach Organ Works

Before releasing his first disc of Bach’s organ works, Masaaki Suzuki had recorded the composer’s complete sacred cantatas, as well as the large-scale choral works and much of the music for harpsichord. His achievements in these fields obscured the fact that Suzuki originally trained as an organist, and began working as such already at the age of twelve. So when Volume 1 of this series reached reviewers around the world, it was something of a revelation to many: the disc went on to be named Choice of the Month in BBC Music Magazine, Diapason d’Or in Diapason and Recording of the Month in Gramophone, which then went on to include it on its list of the ‘50 Greatest Bach Recordings’.

Volume 1 featured the celebrated Schnitger/Hinz organ of Groningen’s Martinikerk in the Netherlands. For this present instalment, Suzuki returned to more familiar ground – the chapel of the Kobe Shoin Women's University where the great majority of his recordings with Bach Collegium Japan have taken place. The chapel houses a French classical organ built in 1983 by Marc Garnier, and on it Suzuki performs a highly symmetrical programme with the large-scale chorale partita BWV 768 at its centre. The work is known as ‘Sei gegrüßet, Jesu gütig’, although the chorale text that it is structured upon most probably is that of ‘O Jesu, du edle Gabe’. On either side the partita is flanked by an arrangement by Bach of concertos by Vivaldi, and a chorale prelude on ‘Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier’. The disc opens and closes with a Prelude and Fugue, in G major and C major respectively.

-----

REVIEWS:

Suzuki makes extremely savvy use of his resources; the instrument's almost chamber-music-like clarity and intimacy of the results is most enjoyable. The recorded sound is unusually crisp and clear. Strongly and enthusiastically recommended.

– Fanfare

The life, vitality, affection and fun Suzuki brings to them will ensure they have a lasting place in the annals of Bach organ recordings.

– MusicWeb International

The remarkable harpsichordist/organist/conductor Masaaki Suzuki continues his recordings for BIS with this SACD of organ music of Bach played on the Marc Garnier organ of Shoin Chapel in Kobe, Japan. This is not a large cathedral organ. You won’t hear massive pedal notes, but these are excellent performances, beautifully and naturally recorded.

– Classical CD Review

The Sixteen has long been hailed for it's championing of Tudor music, especially that of the Eton Choirbook, as well as for choral treasures of 20th century and it's work with 21st centuries composers. And so to mark it's 40th year the group has return to it's grass roots in a album that celebrates those passions. An Enduring Voice brings together some of the most glorious music from the past and present. It contrasts a new commission by award-winning composer Sir James MacMillan with music from the 15th and 16th centuries by Fayrfax, Wylkynson and Sheppard. These fine examples of English polyphony are juxtaposed with stunning music by Tavener, Gabriel Jackson and Eric Whitacre.

Issued between 1779 and 1787, the six collections of sonatas, rondos, and fantasias “fur Kenner und Liebhaber” constitute Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach’s largest-scale publishing venture. Aimed at ‘Connaisseurs and Amateurs’, the first collection was a retrospective selection of six sonatas but when this became a commercial success Bach expanded and varied the scheme, adding rondos (a recently popular form) for the second and third collection and, in the final three collections, samples of his free fantasies. On the previous two discs in his acclaimed series, Miklós SpAnyi combined pieces from Collection 1 and 2, performing them on the clavichord (Volume 31) and the tangent piano (Volume 32). For the present disc, SpAnyi has chosen to remain with the tangent piano, an early form of the piano with strings that are struck by small wooden slips (‘tangents’). The basic sound of the instrument is reminiscent of the harpsichord, but this can be modified in a number of ways through the use of various devices. In Collection 3, Bach provided variety by alternating previously composed sonatas with newly written rondos and Miklós SpAnyi adds to this by appending an independent set of variations to the collection. Probably intended for amateur keyboard players, the Canzonetta with 6 Variations was composed in 1781, and described by Bach in the catalogue of his works as ‘Canzonetta by the Duchess of Gotha with my 6 variations’.

In 1971, Einojuhani Rautavaara was asked to compose a Finnish Orthodox church service, an all-night vigil similar to that of Rachmaninov, comprising Vespers as well as Matins. Soon after the first performance he reshaped the music into what we now know as Vigilia, a concert version forming a musical whole. As his inspiration, Rautavaara has himself described a visit to the Valamo monastery in the middle of Lake Ladoga in 1939: ‘The bells began to ring, low-pitched booms and higher, shrill clinks: the world was filled with sounds and colors…’ The music is marked by dark colors, the heady smell of incense and the crepuscular church lit only by small candles. Divided into two parts, Vespers and Matins, the 70-minute work consists of 34 sections, and features prominent parts for a bass and a tenor soloist, as well as a number of solo voices emerging from the mixed choir. The work is enriched by the constantly changing combinations of choir and soloists, the perspective shifting from the personal to the universal.

It is here performed by the 21-strong Helsinki Chamber Choir, under its artistic director Nils Schweckendiek – a team that has made several recordings for BIS in recent years. These include Riemuitkaamme!, a Christmas album (‘Schweckendiek’s immaculately blended singers make a glorious noise’, The Arts Desk), as well as a two-album survey of the choral works of Finnish modernist Erik Bergman (‘The Helsinki choir produces a radiant sound throughout’, Choir & Organ).