Classical Music

Wilhelm Furtwängler (1886-1954),one of the greatest of 20th century conductors, leads four equally distinguished mid-century violinists and three eminent European orchestras in live performances of violin concertos by Beethoven (Röhn, Berlin), Mendelssohn (de Vito, Torino), Brahms (Menuhin, Lucerne) and Sibelius (Kulenkampff, Berlin). + Recorded during and after WWII, these performances have been newly re-mastered for this release.

Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate was born in 1968 in Norman, Oklahoma, and is a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation. Mr. Tate is dedicated to the development of American Indian classical composition, and a recent review by The Washington Post states that “Tate’s connection to nature and the human experience was quite apparent in this piece…rarer still is his ability to infuse classical music with American Indian nationalism.” This review was a response to a performance of Iholba’ (The Vision), for Solo Flute, Orchestra and Chorus, which was commissioned by the National Symphony Orchestra and premiered at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

In 2006, Mr. Tate was the recipient of the Joyce Award which supported the commission of Nitoshi’ Imali, Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra, which premiered in 2007 with soloist Jason Vieaux and the Civic Orchestra of Minneapolis, conducted by Cary John Franklin. His new work for orchestra and children’s chorus, commissioned by the American Composers Forum Continental Harmony Project, celebrates the opening of the new Chickasaw Cultural Center in Sulphur, Oklahoma. Mr. Tate received his BM in Piano Performance from Northwestern University where he studied with Dr. Donald J. Isaak. He then completed his MM in Piano Performance and Composition at the Cleveland Institute of Music where he studied with Elizabeth Pastor and Dr. Donald Erb. Shortly after beginning his piano studies at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Jerod’s first composition, Winter Moons ballet score, was commissioned by Dr. Patricia Tate and premiered at the University of Wyoming in 1992. Colorado Ballet subsequently performed it in 1994 and 1996.

Since then, Tate has received numerous commissions and his works have been performed by the National Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Colorado Ballet, The New Mexico Symphony, the Contemporary Music Forum, Dale Warland Singers, the New Jersey Chamber Music Society and the Oklahoma City University Wind Philharmonic, to name a few. Mr. Tate is Artistic Director for the Chickasaw Chamber Music Festival. He is Composer-in-Residence for the Chickasaw Summer Arts Academy and was Composerin- Residence for the Grand Canyon Music Festival’s Corn CribNative American Composer Apprentice Project in 2004 and 2005. In 2007, he was Composer-in-Residence for The Joyce Foundation/American Composers Forum, teaching composition to American Indian high school students in Minneapolis. Mr. Tate received the 2006 Alumni Achievement Award from the Cleveland Institute of Music and has also received awards from Meet the Composer and the Percussive Arts Society. He is happily married to Ursula Running Bear, an enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe (Sicangu Lakota). Mr. Tate’s middle name, Impichchaachaaha’, means “high corncrib” and is his inherited traditional Chickasaw house name. A corncrib is a small hut used for the storage of corn and other vegetables. In traditional Chickasaw culture, the corncrib was built high off of the ground on stilts to keep its contents safe from foraging animals.

Estonian violinist Kerem (b.Tallinn, 1981) is familiar as a performer in Britain as well as at home. He is also a prolific composer, with over 100 works to his credit, 3 symphonies among them. The three-movement 3rd Symphonny (2003) and the Lamento for viola and strings (2008–9) lie downstream from Shostakovich and Boris Tishchenko, and were inspired by the idea of the struggle of the individual voice against oppressive ideology.

Polish pianist and composer Franz Xaver Scharwenka was raised in the spirit of European Romanticism, championing the music of Chopin, Schumann, Mendelssohn and Liszt, and gaining enormous popularity for his own compositions, which Liszt greatly admired. Scharwenka’s fourth and final Piano Concerto (which the composer performed under the direction of Mahler and Stokowski) is a work of genius which stands at the apex of his achievement. The shorter pieces on this album have recently enjoyed renewed popularity, proving the value of Scharwenka’s legacy for modern listeners though much of his music remains to be rediscovered.

MADERNA Piano Concerto. 1 Piano Concerto (version for 2 pianos 2 ) . Concerto for 2 Pianos 3. Quadrivium 4 • 1,2,3 Aldo Orvieto, 2,3 Fausto Bongelli (pn); 1,3,4 Carlo Miotto, cond; 3 Gruppo 40.6; 1,4 Arena di Verona O • NAXOS 8.572642 (66:32)


Bruno Maderna (1920–73) was an Italian postwar composer and conductor. He studied composition with Gian Francesco Malipiero in the early 1940s; it was Malipiero whom he felt was not only a great teacher, but who also gave to him an appreciation of earlier music. Around the same time he studied conducting with Guarnieri at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana, Siena; he proved to be gifted in this respect as well. He later attended an international course in conducting in Venice with none other than Hermann Scherchen, the great German conductor who was highly interested in contemporary music. During the 1950s Maderna worked to revitalize the musical scene in Italy. One of the major projects, which came to fruition in 1955, was the founding of the Studio di Fonologia Musicale of the RAI. This allowed both Maderna and Berio to work further in their experimentations with electronic forms of music-making. By the 1960s he was conducting more than ever. He worked with some of the most prestigious orchestras in the world at the time—New York, Chicago, Amsterdam, and Cleveland, to name just a few—conducting everything from contemporary works and Mahler symphonies to Mozart and Debussy operas. Compositionally, he remained equally interested in a wide range of music throughout his life—dodecaphonic, early Venetian and Flemish, electronic; everything was filtered through his keen mind. He died—too young—at the age of 53.


The first three works on the current recital (of which the two versions of the Piano Concerto are premiere recordings) are all short works—all between 11 and 12 minutes. The Piano Concerto (1942) is an early work. It sounds a bit like a mixture of Bartók, Berg, and perhaps Hindemith, though there is already a unique sound that shines through. The work is contrapuntal, well orchestrated, and highly melodic. It is above all else a pleasure to listen to. The version from 1946 for two pianos sounds almost like an x-ray of the music by comparison. It is fascinating to have these two versions side by side, as many of the details that get lost through the addition of numerous tone colors are all of a sudden brought to the fore; the piece sounds new. One can hear that the 1940s saw Maderna seeking new avenues of expression. The Concerto for Two Pianos (1948) is far away from the sound world of the previous two works. It begins with a mysterious air to it, using few notes and just the pianos to create its mood. It becomes more animato as the composition progresses, adding more and different percussion instruments into the mix, erupting at times, receding at others. It ends with a torrent of timbres. Quadrivium (1969) is a late work. Lasting some 31 minutes, it is the longest work on the recording. It is composed of four percussionists and four orchestral groups, symbolizing the four liberal arts—arithmetic, algebra, music, and astronomy. It is the most experimental of his works on the disc, featuring strict serial writing, aleatoric moments, and counterpoint, and is infused with a sense of exploration of sonorities. I can’t say that this type of music will be for everyone, but repeated listenings help in the appreciation and understanding of this music. I can only say that I have been rewarded in the process.


The musicians on this recording give the sense that they have studied and love this music—and there is much to be loved, even by the casual listener. The early works, in particular, are delightful in sound and conception, while the later works, though more complex, are also quite engaging; just be prepared for a good deal of writing for percussion instruments. The sound quality is excellent—each instrument literally pops out of the mix when required. The numerous changes in color on the piano are captured vividly here as well. Overall this is a very fine release of music that should be better known, more listened to, and in the end cherished.


FANFARE: Scott Noriega

"The young Israeli clarinetist Sharon Kam has now contributed her own interpretation [of Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto, on CD] to the heap of other recordings on the market, and her entry is a formidable one. Kam's generous lines, gracious phrasing and purity of timbre in the Adagio make this second movement a tender lullaby worth the price of the disc alone." - Time Out New York

"With Ms. Kam the Clarinet Concerto sings. From the rhapsodic tranquility of the first movement through the sweet, wistful, melancholic flow of the second movement to the energetic playfulness of the finale, Ms. Kam and the Haydn Philharmonic are in complete accord with the material, producing a warm, elegant, refined, and moving interpretation. This performance is in every way the equal of several other notable recordings, like the classic one from Jack Brymer (EMI) or more-recent ones on basset clarinet from Richard Hosford (ASV), Thea King (Hyperion), and Michael Collins (DG). Yes, Ms. Kam more than holds her own."

- John J. Puccio, Classical Vandor

"Sharon Kam and her collaborators take the fast movements at a sprightly clip, which gives them added spunk, of course, but also added contrast to the tenderly expressive slow movements, which are played with utmost beauty and sensitivity. Kam, whose earlier recordings of Classical and Romantic works include prize winners, plays with a beauty of tone that would be the envy of most clarinetists. She also directs the Österreichisch-Ungarische Haydn Philharmonie, known in English-speaking countries as the Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra, famous for its complete series of Haydn Symphonies in UHJ Ambisonic on Nimbus. Predictably, the orchestra does the same kind of justice to Mozart, producing a sweet yet full, rich sound that’s the perfect ground for the richer tones of the basset clarinet. Kam’s partners in the Quintet are all solo-quality musicians who also specialize in chamber music, so you hear as much beautiful tone production from them as from the clarinetist...The Berlin Classics engineers provide a nigh-ideal listening experience: the sound is warm, intimate, perfectly balanced. This recording is a winner on all scores."

— Lee Passarella, Audiophile Audition

"Benny Goodman made this coupling famous on record – and he didn’t play the basset, as Sharon Kam does. The Haydn Philharmonie sound a bit period-abrasive, but the clarinet tone is deliciously liquid in the concerti and tenderly intimate in the quintet. As pleasing as any account I have heard in years."

- Norman Lebrecht, La Scena Musicale

Two well-known and two less-familiar orchestral works by Debussy • A new recording from the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra (SWR) and Heinz Holliger, following up on their globally acclaimed Koechlin series • A continuation of the orchestra’s exploration of the French orchestral repertoire that began with their CDs of the music of Koechlin • May 21st 2014: Heinz Holliger’s 75th birthday The "Afternoon of a Faun“ together with the orchestral "Images" are among Claude Debussy’s best known and most popular compositions. Both works show different side of the composer: "Afternoon of a Faun" is a textbook example of musical impressionism, while about the "Images", the composer himself said that his goal was to “try to achieve something different – an effect of reality”. The scores contrast well with the two Rhapsodies: the one for clarinet, called the "first" Rhapsody, was sketched out within a few weeks at the end of 1909, while the "second" Rhapsody for saxophone was only completed and orchestrated after the death of its author. The Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra (SWR) and conductor Heinz Holliger manage to bring out the evocative, dynamic colors and peculiarities to be found in all of these works with precision.

This new SOMM release features two perennial favorites, the Glazunov and Dvorak Violin Concertos. They are often recorded together, deriving their inspiration from Russian Bohemia's musical heritage whilst still remaining close to Brahmsian Viennese traditions. Greek-born violinist Efi Christodoulou has been reviewd by The Strad as "a powerful violinist, demonstrating a high level of technical achievement" Efi is developing a career in the UK where she has recently given recitals at St. John's, Smith Square and Wigmore Hall.

Joan Tower creates music which is bold, colorful and communicative, her list of commissions and awards providing ample evidence of her ability to engage performers and audiences alike. Emotional intensity characterizes Stroke, which vividly conveys a stroke victim’s dramatic turmoil while also offering a vision of hope. The Violin Concerto, selected for the final round of the Pulitzer Prize in Music, is both a virtuoso showcase and a lyrical vehicle for the soloist, its conversational cadenzas representing a poignant exchange between the living and the departed. The deceptively titled Chamber Dance alternates huge blocks of sound with intimate solos and duets in an ever-evolving riot of colors.

Review:

In the Violin Concerto the ear is caught by the constantly changing colours of the soloists interaction with different orchestral players. Violinist Cho-Liang Lin is lyrical and muscular as required, and his slender tone is well balanced with the excellent Nashville Symphony. The orchestra impresses also in two more recent pieces by Tower, and bears further witness to Tower's imaginative handling of instrumental coloring.

– BBC Music Magazine

I was unaware of the existence of Chandos’s series of Introduction to ... recordings until they very generously offered every recipient of their e-newsletter the opportunity freely to download their Introduction to Vaughan Williams.

The opening performance of The Hebrides Overture (better known as Fingal’s Cave) emphasises the mystery of the music rather than the excitement of the crashing waves – Mendelssohn was struck by both aspects of his visit to the cave on the island of Staffa. For all that it fails to live up to some of our usual expectations of this music, it’s an accomplished performance. It’s been recycled quite frequently – it was even once available on the short-lived Boots own label together with other maritime music and it’s also on Spirit of Scotland, CHAN10412X, and Seascapes, CHAN6538 – but it’s none the worse for that and the recording has worn well.

The inclusion of the first Piano Concerto, rather than the expected Violin Concerto, is for me the highlight of the CD. Most collectors, even those for whom an Introduction to ... would be likely to appeal, will already have a version of the Violin Concerto, or be likely to obtain one at an early stage, usually coupled with the Bruch or Tchaikovsky – there are plenty of versions to choose from, even in the lower price categories.

It’s quite unusual to find a bargain-price version of the First Piano Concerto: Peter Katin’s versions of both Piano Concertos once featured on a Decca Weekend recording, coupled with the Capriccio brilliant and Rondo brillant (425 504-2, long deleted) – good performances but in rather dated sound. Otherwise, as far as I am aware, the only competitor in this price range is Benjamin Frith’s Naxos version of the four works (8.550681), which I haven’t heard but which has been favourably reviewed.

That the performance offered is by Howard Shelley - as soloist and director of the London Mozart Players - is an added bonus, since this performance combines technical virtuosity and a delicacy of touch that ensures that this early work is never overwhelmed. Shelley’s tempo in the outer movements is brisk – he moves the music along without sounding rushed, especially in the Finale where he takes 6:11 against 6:54 on the Katin/Collins recording. In the slow movement, he gives the music time to breathe – 6:39 against Katin’s 6:13 – without sentimentalising it.

In the Capriccio brilliant he also give the music time to breathe – 11:28 against Katin’s 10:35; ensuring that the brilliance inferred by the title is not at the expense of expressiveness. When the brilliant music arrives, it is all the more effective for the contrast with the rather measured opening Andante. My only real criticism of this introductory CD is that it will probably lead buyers to duplication when, as they will be tempted to do, they purchase the parent Chandos CD, where Shelley performs both concertos plus the Capriccio (CHAN9215).

The Wedding March was an inevitable choice and it’s performed well by the RLPO under Sir Charles Groves, stately but not pompous.

If the two piano works make an unexpected but very welcome appearance on the CD, the more predictable choice of the Italian Symphony as the final work is equally welcome in the Philharmonia/Walter Weller version. Again, as with the Shelley performance, my only complaint is that those seeking recommendable versions of all Mendelssohn’s symphonies – and, surely, most collectors will want at least Nos.3-5, the Scottish, Italian and Reformation symphonies at some fairly early stage – are unlikely to find a better combination of affordable price, quality of performance and recording than the 3-CD Chandos set with Walter Weller (CHAN10224X).

Weller’s tempi for the symphony are generally on the fast side, though by no means excessively so. This is one of those works, like Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony, where the outer movements lend themselves well to fast speeds. I felt that Weller might have given the slow movement a little more time to breathe, but it is marked Andante con moto. The con moto element is more in evidence here than in Wolfgang Sawallisch’s otherwise very fine performance with the predecessor of the same orchestra (then called the New Philharmonia) in 1966. The Sawallisch was formerly on Philips 422 470-2 with the Reformation Symphony (no longer available). How about a reissue from Australian Eloquence?

Only in the Finale is Weller marginally slower than Sawallisch; this movement combines elements of the saltarello and tarantella, both lively Italian dances. The latter is said to be imitative of the action of stamping on a poisonous tarantula spider or leaping about in agony after its bite – as the Latin American cucaracha imitates stamping on cockroaches. I would have preferred a slightly more hectic pace in this movement. At least, that was my feeling on my initial hearing – subsequently this account of the Finale has grown on me.

Though made at different times, all the recordings are more than acceptable. I tried the lossless download version (wma) from Chandos’s theclassicalshop.net and found it fully equal to CD quality; experience suggests that even the mp3 version would be more than acceptable. I couldn’t find this recording at classicsonline or on eMusic, both of whom do offer many Chandos downloads.

For a low-price series, all the notes which I have seen from this Introduction to ... series have been excellent and this recording is no exception. If the programme appeals, buy with confidence; the only reason why I have withheld any accolade is the likelihood that purchasers are likely to duplicate these performances in building their collection.

Don’t forget the Introduction to Vaughan Williams (CHAN2028) if you weren’t fortunate enough to receive the free offer. It contains The Wasps Overture, the Greensleeves Fantasia, The Lark Ascending, that favourite of Classic FM listeners, and the Second Symphony, all in more than decent performances. I was particularly pleased to see Bryden Thomson’s version of the symphony reappear in this form; it may not be quite the equal of the Barbirolli version from which I first got to know the work on a Pye Golden Guinea LP or Chandos’s own Richard Hickox performance of the original version, but it is well worth hearing as an alternative to the Hickox. Not everyone will want to hear the fuller version every time. I might have preferred the Tallis Fantasia to one of the shorter pieces – as a lover of Tallis, I’m fascinated by the perfect blending of the 16th and 20th centuries in this work. However I’m sure the Second was the right VW symphony to introduce to the beginner and the Thomson recording is one of the best from a variable series.

-- Brian Wilson, MusicWeb International

The most amazing piece that this teenager, who is reaching for the stars if not beyond, has composed – and at the age of fourteen – is his First Symphony for large orchestra entitled “Kraftwerk”. It is almost an understatement to prophecy this young man a great future. That the pianist Alexander M. Wagner is in no way inferior to the composer is proven by this recording of piano works, recorded by the sixteen-year-old in February

Three very varied works make up this latest disc in the Naxos series of Gian Francesco Malipiero’s orchestral works, including two world premiere recordings. Malipiero claimed, extremely improbably, to have created his Fantasie di ogni giorno – ‘Everyday Fantasies’ – simply by stringing together musical ideas he had scribbled down from day to day, ‘and it was not even necessary to change their order’. In the Passacaglie, by contrast, Malipiero deliberately set out to use far stricter structural devices, while Concerti, composed two decades earlier, is a highly imaginative and diverse suite of miniature concertos for different instrumental sections of the orchestra.

After her highly appraised debut CD with French Music for cello and piano, Harriet Krijgh presents her virtuosity and technical finesse with the new recording of both Cello Concertos by Joseph Haydn. Harriet Krijgh was born in the Netherlands in June 1991 and received her first cello lessons at the age of five. In 2000 she was admitted into the preparatory young talent class of Lenian Benjamins at the Conservatory of Music in Utrecht. In 2004 Harriet moved to Vienna, where she continued her cello studies with Lilia Schulz-Bayrova and Jontscho Bayrov at the Konservatorium Wien Privatuniversität. In June 2012 Harriet will have her own festival at Burg Feistritz in Austria. The event marks the launch of the annual “Harriet & Friends” Chamber Music Festival, where she will play select works with musicians from around the world.

Grieg is one of the world’s best known composers, but the three Violin Sonatas are a relatively unfamiliar part of his output, despite being among his own favourite pieces. Grieg never wrote a violin concerto, and the foremost Norwegian violinist of his generation, Henning Kraggerud, assisted by Bernt Simen Lund, a member of the Tromsø Chamber Orchestra, has taken up the challenge of creating three new concertos from the sonatas. In these arrangements the solo violin is set against a string orchestra augmented by wind instruments in order to retain the feel of chamber music.

Following his extraordinary, critically acclaimed recording of concertos by Martinu, Hindemith, and Honegger, the charismatic Johannes Moser returns with a stunning new release, featuring two of the most distinguished 20th century cello concertos. Both works were originally composed for the great Mstislav Rostropovich. Shostakovich's Cello Concerto No. 1 was premiered in October 1959, and is characterized by vitality, humor and virtuosity. Britten's "Symphony for Cello and Orchestra" op 68 was premiered in 1964, with Rostropovich once again as soloist. This new recording continues Moser's stunning exploration of 20th century cello concertos while at the same time building upon his masterful interpretations of cello sonatas by the same featured composers, Shostakovich and Britten.

"•Wilhelm Mengelberg, the legendary and controversial conductor of the Gewandhaus Orchestra for fifty years (1895-1945), famed for his championing of both Richard Strauss and Gustav Mahler, is heard here conducting, among other Schubertian coimpositions,Schubert's final two symphonic masterpieces. • This set has received excellent reviews in the European music press."

Adam Falckenhagen (1697-1754) could very well have produced a great deal of compositions. Unfortunately, these six sonatas are the only works left intact. In these works, the flute and the lute are treated equally, performing a dialogue that is rarely seen in music from this period. Performers on this album include John Schneiderman on the baroque lute, Jeffrey Cohan on the baroque flute, and William Skeen on the baroque cello.

Classical Music

Spanish Composer Joaqui?N Rodrigo (1901-99) Was One of the Foremost Guitar Composers of the 20th C. His 1939 Concierto de Aranjuez, with It's Evocative Andalusian Color, Indelible Melody and Subtle and Effective Orchestration, Is Assuredly One of the Genre's Best-Loved Works. The Passionate and Vital Concierto Andaluz Is Scored for Guitar Quartet and Orchestra, Whilst in the Concierto Madrigal Rodrigo Employs Variation Form to Brilliant Effect.

Mozart, W.A.: Violin Concerto No. 5 / Piano Concerto No. 25

• 2014 marks the 250th anniversary of Locatelli’s death • I Musici”, founded 1951, made this very important recording of Locatelli’s Tre Concerti Grossi op. 1 in 1959 • This performance is still considered as one of the best ever realized of this little known masterpieces. • At the end of this CD there are the Vivaldi’s three Concerti, op. 4, recorded 1962

This Chandos re-issue of Max Bruch’s Violin Concertos Nos. 2 and 3, recorded in 1998 by Lydia Mordkovitch (1944-2014) with Richard Hickox and the LSO is released in tribute to the late Russian-British violinist. • In the Violin Concerto No. 2, “Hickox draws radiant sounds from the LSO, and Ms. Mordkovitch ... plays with rapt dedication [and] breathtaking beauty…” (Guardian) • The third Violin Concerto’s robust, heroic opening concertante movement precedes a slow movement reminiscent of the same in the famous First Concerto and a rondo Finale dominated by a strongly rhythmic perpetuum mobile.

Edition Luigi Boccherini: Divertimenti - Oboe Quintets

PENDERECKI: Violin Concertos Nos. 1 and 2