The influx of European composers to England in the 18th century led to a particularly active musical life, especially in London, but the influence of composers like Hellendaal, Castrucci, and especially Handel, led to the development of a musical culture whose native participants included the likes of William Boyce, Thomas Arne, John Stanley, and Charles Avison. These and many others were eager to take up the gauntlet tossed down by the Continentals, and they did so, but with the anticipated varying results. While the names of Boyce, Arne, and Stanley are rather well known among aficionados of 18th-century music in the sceptered isle, the same is not quite true for Charles Avison (1709–1770).

Born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Avison spent most of his life in his native city, but for 11 years he resided in London, where he came under the influence of Corelli’s student and champion, Francesco Geminiani. Geminiani exerted a strong influence upon the young Avison and when the latter returned to Newcastle, he organized a series of 14 subscription concerts two weeks apart during the winter months. In addition to composing, Avison was a musical mover and shaker on his home turf, writing musical criticism. His treatise, An Essay on Musical Expression (which proclaimed Geminiani to be a greater composer than Handel), appeared in 1752. Avison was responsible for the introduction of Rameau’s Pièces de clavecin to England, and he cobbled together a number of Scarlatti’s keyboard sonatas into a set of string concertos.

Beyond the transcriptions of Rameau and Scarlatti, Avison’s authentic output is relatively small and consists of concerti grossi, keyboard concertos, and chamber music. John Johnson published the dozen concertos in this collection in London in 1758, at a time when Avison’s reputation was at its zenith. The composer’s debt to the Italian tradition in general and to Geminiani in particular is apparent, but rather than being a mere epigone, Avison strikes out on his own in a number of ways. While the majority of these concertos follow the structural pattern of the Italian concerto da chiesa, the first work in the set opens with a movement reminiscent of the tripartite French ouverture; the ninth and twelfth concertos follow the concerto da camera model with its fast-slow-fast sequence. Avison also expands the concertino, adding a viola to the normal complement of two violins and violoncello. There are also moments when—via the melodies—one is transported to the English countryside and the mind’s eye can almost envision a rustic gathering with the village folk clapping in unison while a fiddler merrily plies his craft and a band of revelers circles the brightly-colored maypole. The writing saves the truly difficult parts for the concertino, but the ripieno is given plenty to do by way of passages that are quite satisfying for musicians whose skills do not approach the virtuoso level. Led by Ukranian-born Pavlo Beznosiuk, a fixture in the early-music life in England and on the Continent, who has performed with Christopher Hogwood’s Academy of Ancient Music, Ton Koopman’s Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, and others. The Avison Ensemble was established for the sole purpose of acquainting the musical public with the work of a composer hailed by The New Grove as being “the most important English concerto composer of the 18th century.” They have furthered the revival of the Newcastle subscription concerts that Avison established over 250 years ago.

This is uncomplicated music, calculated to entertain, not to stimulate one’s intellect. The lack of profundity here is outweighed by the ability of Avison to craft interesting music that can be taken up and be happily tossed about by members of the ensemble; the band knows how to do this and do it well. Beznosiuk and his exceptionally gifted ensemble of young colleagues further enhance Avison’s gifts by serving up performances that sizzle with energy and spring in their step. Melodic lines are well shaped and the overall presentation is texturally lean and tightly focused. Though this is far from great music, these readings are enthusiastic and polished enough to satisfy any lover of the Baroque in general or the English Baroque in particular.

Michael Carter, FANFARE

What a delightful surprise! Two of these works, the elegantly neo-classical Concerto Grosso and the colorful Three Symphonic Versions, were recorded by Dorian in Venezuela some years ago under Eduardo Mata--and quite well too, but these newcomers offer every bit as much energy with even greater clarity of texture. The percussive finale of Versiones (Xilófono) gains in stature in this performance, the variety of incident belying its brevity (just three minutes). In the Concerto Grosso for string quartet and orchestra, the four soloists offer smoother timbres than Dorian's Cuarteto Latinoamericano, with absolutely no loss of verve or rhythmic incisiveness. The exchanges between quartet and orchestra also register more effectively, with a less jarring sense of separation between them thanks largely to conductor Maximiano Valdés' more graceful and discreet accompaniments.


The Symphonic Dances are new to CD--and are wholly characteristic. Gregoriana, the second movement of four, sounds like the little brother to the first movement of the Versiones. The opening Overtura typifies Orbón's brilliant sense of instrumental color allied to artful formal control. If you enjoy, say, Copland of the famous ballets, then you will love this music as well. The final dance offers a riot of rhythmic and instrumental fireworks, and like all of Orbón's music it lasts not a second too long.


As noted above, the playing of the Asturias Symphony Orchestra is very fine. The players sound right at home in the idiom despite the fact that the composer, though of Spanish origin, spent most of his career in Cuba and later the United States, his music owing as much to the New World as to the Old. First rate recorded sound rounds out this superb collection, perhaps the best release thus far in Naxos' Spanish music series and certainly one of the most important and purely enjoyable.


Perhaps Naxos can get its hands on the composer's long-thought-lost Symphony in C and give us a premiere recording along with the remaining orchestral works (there are only a couple of others). Like so many of his Spanish forebears, Orbón's output is very small, but it's of the highest quality and always is superbly crafted. Don't miss this chance to get to know him. [2/21/2004]
--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

This high-quality production begins with Tim Hugh's lucid, thoughtful, penetrating account of Gerald Finzi's reflective and often elusive Cello concerto. Hugh's measured, noble expressivity gives the unsettled opening movement a powerful sense of line and also real pathos. In contrast, Raphael Wallfisch's 1986 recording for Chandos takes the first movement at a broader pace, but Hugh's urgent arguments seem more alive to dynamic shadings and are more poignantly resigned. Hugh gets more bite and punch into Finzi's "Scotch-Snap" rhythms here, and attains a bleaker, blacker atmosphere than Wallfisch in the coda. Although there are passages where a larger orchestra would have added greater impact, the Northern Sinfonia accompanies Hugh beautifully in the andante, where you'll hear several outstanding contributions from the winds. Hugh's finale, too, generates starker contrasts than Wallfisch's, particularly during the unexpected slow episode part way through, and in the scurrying passagework elsewhere, where soloist and orchestra achieve a chamber-like intimacy.


Peter Donohoe is soloist in Finzi's two works for piano and orchestra, the Eclogue (1929--accompanied by strings alone) and Grand Fantasia and Toccata (1927), both of which were conceived for a piano concerto that never materialized. Donohoe's direct, un-mannered treatment of the Eclogue results in a finely controlled performance that casts ample light on the text without sentimentalizing it. The Nimbus version with Martin Jones and the English String Orchestra under William Boughton is well played too, but the washy acoustic robs the music of inner detailing that registers clearly on the Naxos disc. The Grand Fantasia and Toccata is a demanding virtuoso work inspired by Finzi's love of Bach. What's so compelling about Donohoe's account is that he sees the piece as a kind of neo-Baroque refraction, more closely associated with the 20th century than the 18th. It's a keenly incisive performance; Donohoe's strident accents and penetrating clarity seem ideal, but the loudest passages could still gain from fuller-sounding orchestral support. Phillip Fowke recorded the piece for EMI with Richard Hickox in 1988, but his version hasn't the austere power of Donohoe's. This Naxos release combines performances of impressive stature with pleasingly natural and well-balanced recorded sound. It'll prove hard to beat, especially at budget price.
--Michael Jameson, ClassicsToday.com

Vivaldi: Bassoon Concertos (Complete), Vol. 1

This album showcases one of Ginette Neveu's last recordings of Beethoven's concerto, recorded only weeks before her death. The Brahms Concerto was recorded live in 1948 and the Beethoven Concerto was also recorded live in 1949.

Mozart: Piano Concertos

Movie soundtracks have a responsibility to heighten the emotional value of the film itself. Barrington Pheloung achieves this in HILARY AND JACKIE. By including Jacqueline du Pré's performance of the Elgar Cello Concerto in its entirety, Pheloung not only pays tribute to du Pré, but allows the listener to get a sense of what she was about in a way the actors can't express. The synergy between du Pré and Barenboim is evident in every phrase, yet Jackie finally outshines even the orchestra. The Elgar was Jackie's piece, and no other recording comes close.
The other music on this disc is simple, yet poignant. Pheloung features the cello in his compositions, and Caroline Dale does an excellent job of being Jackie in her cello playing. Pheloung includes an arrangement of a song which the du Pré sisters sang as children, showing that he is not only a good composer, but is in touch with the material and emotion behind the film. The score is never excessive, and though sentimental at times, it seems appropriate to the tragic nature of this story.

...This is vibrant and virile music making full of passionate sweep, arresting clarity, and genuine, chamber-like give and take between soloist and orchestra.

Like his teacher and mentor Artur Schnabel, Fleisher underlines Beethoven's harmonic tension by either distending or slightly speeding up certain runs and arpeggiated sequences, yet rarely at the expense of accuracy...although he's not one to slave over making every long trill perfectly even and tapered. Under George Szell's eagle-eye, the Cleveland Orchestra members achieve staggering unanimity in regard to articulation and marcato phrasing, but with more heart and singing impulse than in Szell's relatively stiffer Beethoven accompaniments for Emil Gilels eight years later...

--Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com [reviewing the Third Concerto, Sony 78767]

Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 22 & 24

This collection contains mono and stereo recordings.

Gershwin & Ravel: Piano Concertos

According to Greek mythology, Zefiro was the tender and kind God of the Western Wind. In 1989, the oboists Alfredo Bernardini and Paolo Grazzi, and the bassoonist Alberto Grazzi, members of the most outstanding baroque orchestras, founded Zefiro, a versatile music group specialising in the eighteenth-century repertoire that gives particular prominence to wind instruments. Since then, Zefiro has performed at many major worldwide festivals and recorded 20 Cds, including the complete works for wind ensemble of W. A. Mozart, all virtuosic sonatas of J.D. Zelenka (Astrée), and three instalments of the distinguished Vivaldi Edition on Naïve. After a long-term collaboration with Sony Classical/Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, this new Vivaldi recording marks the beginning of an exclusive partnership of the Italian ensemble with Arcana, which will result in a true Zefiro series, characterised by its own artwork, focused on new releases but whose task will also be to make their discography still available. Antonio Vivaldi was (and has remained) the most productive composer of concertos for solo bassoon. Thirty-nine concertos for solo bassoon, strings and basso continuo by him have survived. As a group, they are noteworthy for their high musical quality, their stylistic maturity and their depth of feeling, a property shared with Vivaldi's concertos for the cello. Vivaldi shows perfect understanding of the mercurial temperament of the instrument, which is able in an instant to move from the comic to the tragic, from the melancholy to the joyful. An active player on the early music scene for the last 25 years, Alberto Grazzi is presenting here seven concertos from the enormous corpus of the Venetian composer. This selection, with 4 concertos in major and 3 in minor keys, represents Alberto Grazzi's personal choice in showing the expressive qualities of the bassoon in Vivaldi's world. This work is the result of a Alberto Grazzi's long-term practise as a baroque player, here magnificently supported by the Ensemble Zefiro.

Includes cto(s) by Robert Schumann. Soloist: Claudio Arrau.
Includes cto(s) for pno by Franz Liszt. Soloist: Claudio Arrau.
Includes work(s) for pno by Carl Maria von Weber. Soloist: Claudio Arrau.

Import Hybrid-SACD pressing.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Apollo Ensemble: Hans-Martin Rux, trumpet; David Rabinovitch, violin; Igor Ruhadze, violin; Tamara Mkrtychyan, viola; Sergei Istomin, cello; Kate Clark, flute;nOfer Frenkel, oboe; Annelies Schraa, recorder; Reine-Marie Verhagen, recorder; Marion Boshuizen, harpsichord.

This recording presents alternative versions of three famous works by J.S.Bach, indeed the Brandenburg Concertos of Bach are among the best known and loved pieces of 18th century.

"These alternative settings are all attributed to Bach himself. In presenting the pieces in unfamiliar versions, it is not our purpose to contribute to any debate about authenticity or legitimacy. Although there seems to be evidence that at least some of these versions do predate their better-known transcriptions, it is not on the basis of proposed greater authority that we wish to bring them to the public, our goal is an artistic one, namely: to confront the listener with an alternative perspective to the familiar version [with] greater transparency and a more perfect balance achieved by means of a reduction in the number of tutti parts, revealing the essential structural integrity of each of the pieces. It can be argued that the structure is somewhat veiled in the fuller instrumental versions." - Apollo Ensemble.

For those who have followed the career of Kalevi Aho (for instance through the more than 20 discs of his music released on BIS), it will be clear that he enjoys large-scale projects. One such project has been his 'oboe project', composing works in every genre for the instrument. These plans can be said to have begun soon after the Sonata for oboe and piano included here, composed in 1984-85 and thus possibly the first such work for this combination by a Finnish composer. The project received fresh impetus in 2002, when Aho encountered the eminent Belgian oboist Piet Van Bockstal. As a result he composed his Oboe Concerto, premièred by Bockstal in 2008, a work in which Aho wanted to explore fresh directions for tonality as well as creating orchestral music with a more powerful rhythmic pulse and a richer sound-world. As a result the Concerto employs scales from Arabic classical music as a melodic basis in some of its five movements, and also features the Arabic darabuka and African djembe (two types of goblet drum). Although there is no oboe included in the orchestral score, Aho also specifies the use of two of its rarely heard relatives: the oboe d'amore and the heckelphone (a baritone oboe). Three years after the Concerto, the composer returned to his oboe project, and completed it by writing a solo piece for the instrument. Dedicated to Piet Van Bockstal, the 10-minute Solo IX also forms part of another of Aho's projects - a series of large-scale, virtuosic solo works for various instruments. Together with a number of chamber works for different constellations, this disc sums up Kalevi Aho's oboe project, in expert performances by Piet Van Bockstal, supported by the pianist Yutaka Oya, and by Martyn Brabbins conducting the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, for which Aho has composed so much of his music.

Classical Music

Bruce Atwell is the horn professor at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh and is currently Principal Horn with the Fox Valley Symphony, the Green Bay Symphony, and the Milwaukee Ballet Orchestra. He earned a B.M. at California State University, M.M. at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, and D.M.A at the University of Cincinnati.

Classical Music

At the heart of this CD is the cellist Raphael Wallfisch. He not only performs these pieces with the utmost musicianship but they were also all written for him. Since the BBC NOW play with their customary skill under William Boughton, about as well established an expert on his native British music as one could wish to have, this CD is home and dry. The Hoddinott Hall is one of the best acoustics in the country and Lyrita's engineers have, as usual, produced a splendid sound. I did wonder about the slight left-placement of the cello but that is where soloists usually sit so it may simply reflect reality.

Joubert's work is, as the title states, in two movements. Each lasts a little over 11 minutes. Considering it is scored for only double woodwind, horns and strings, it displays a wide range of instrumental colours and is not only impressively coherent but also makes a very pleasurable sound. There is plenty of energy in the work. This is not a pastoral idyll one can allow to just wash over you. Joubert keeps one firmly engaged throughout and reminded me that I have neglected my sole Joubert CD prior to this, the First Symphony, also on Lyrita.

The late Robert Simpson was a very important symphonist and composer of string quartets. His musical structures require close attention from his listeners. This concerto, one of a mere handful, is typical of his later style. It was in fact his last orchestral piece. It consists of a theme and eleven variations played without a break and lasting very nearly half an hour. It is by turns lyrical and dramatic, ending quietly. Though the orchestra is large the textures are always clear and I found myself gripped by his typically involved musical argument right up to the 'calm resignation' of the coda, described thus in the excellent notes by Paul Conway.

Finally Christopher Wright has come to my attention only recently, having heard an extract from his lovely Violin Concerto of 2010 (Dutton CDLX 7286), so I was not surprised to discover that his Cello Concerto is also a fascinatingly individual creation full of lovely sounds but also of much energy and momentum.

We do not hear many different cello concertos in the concert hall. Those by Elgar, Dvorak, Schumann and Shostakovich are deservedly the most frequently performed. The three recorded on this CD are of a quality and approachability to match such as Saint-Saëns, Hindemith, Martinu and Walton. They should most certainly not be allowed to lapse into obscurity.

- Dave Billinge, MusicWeb International

The unique qualities of the American trumpet tradition are celebrated in this wide-ranging disc. From the drama of Leo Eylar's dazzling Dance Suite to the wit of William McKinley's Miniature Portraits, virtuosity and brilliance are assured. The two songs from Sondheim's musical Sweeney Todd, orchestrated by McKinley with the composer's consent, convey a quality of ardent determination. Jeffrey Silberschlag is the dedicatee of a number of these works and he carries on the illustrious lineage of American trumpeters. He is partnered by Gerard Schwarz, himself one of the great trumpeters of his generation, before turning to conducting.

A unique disc from one of Scotland's most dynamic and versatile groups – the Scottish Ensemble is a tight-knit band of outstanding string players from around Europe who perform regularly together under Artistic Director, Jonathan Morton. This disc – one of their first solo releases following acclaimed discs with artists such as Alison Balsom and Toby Spence – contrasts Vivaldi's timeless Four Seasons with Piazzolla's tango-inspired The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires.

Combining Vivaldi and Piazzola together like this underlines the meteorological and cultural differences between Mediterranean Europe and the heart of South America. To have them performed side by side creates a fascinating programme of similarities and contrasts.