Natalia Andreeva is a Russian pianist who is currently Lecturer in Piano at the University of Sydney, Australia. Her 2015 recording of the music of Galina Ustvolskaya was very well received, and like that album, this new recording of better-known classical and Romantic works is the result of many years of study, developing her own mental picture of these masterpieces and of what the composers were trying to communicate. There are various links between the works – in fact Liszt, Franck and Shostakovich were all influenced by Bach generally, as well as composing in the Prelude and Fugue form that he made a staple of the keyboard repertoire. This is one of two linked releases, the other featuring Piano Sonatas by Beethoven, Scriabin and Prokofiev, and they provide two fine recital-style programs of essential classics.

Roman Statkowski (1859-1925) studied with Anton Rubinstein and Rimsky-Korsakov, later becoming a teacher and inspiring many leading Polish musicians of the 20th c. As a composer his taste was late-Romantic; his large piano music output excels, sparkling in the best tradition of Chopin. Statkowski gave up composition in 1904, devoting the rest of his life to teaching. Pianist Barbara Karaśkiewicz has toured and played across Europe and South America with a broad repertoire, championing rarely-heard composers. This is her fourth album and second recording of several of these pieces.

Santiago Mantas leads the European Union Chamber Orchestra Wind Octect on this release of Mozart's Wind Serenades. These Serenades are among Mozart's most joyful and melodious compositions and this fine performance by the young musicians of the EUCO Wind Octet certainly displays the exuberance and high spirits of the young composer. Santiago Mantas has toured over thirty countries as both conductor and concert pianist and is also a successful composer of music for feature films and documentaries.

Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco is best known for two things – his evocative guitar music, and his work during his long association with the movie industry in Hollywood, where he produced some amazing scores though never quite receiving the fame of his compatriot Nino Rota. His extensive body of piano music has been largely neglected despite the fact that it is exceptional, impressionistic, and in the best post-Romantic tradition of ‘lighter’ music – though only relatively ‘light’ in that it is written in traditional harmony. Never shallow, but highly suggestive of moods, emotions, places and colors. Many of the works in this album are receiving their first recording. Alfonso Soldano is a brilliant Italian pianist, the last and highly-regarded pupil of Aldo Ciccolini whose debut recording (piano music of Sergei Bortkiewicz) attracted worldwide acclaim. He is naturally attuned to the Romantic which makes him an ideal interpreter of this music. He has just been appointed Artistic Director of the Aldo Ciccolini Academy in Trani, Italy.

Jill Crossland is renowned especially in her native UK but also internationally as a specialist in baroque and classical period repertoire and her previous recordings of Beethoven and Bach have been highly praised. This recital contains fine and distinctive performances of the ubiquitous Moonlight, two Mozart pieces and three of Busoni's legendary transcriptions of Bach Chorale Preludes. Jill's thoughtful and individual ratings make this a great buy even for the seasoned collector of core repertoire.

"•Cellist Heather Tuach and pianist Patil Harboyan present a recording of tuneful folk-inspired works by Gomidas, Stepanian, Babajanian and Arutiunian. • These works will appeal to many, being brilliantly lyrical and romantic in style throughout. • Almost all of the works are receiving their first recording. Ms. Tuach is a member of the Fitzwilliam String Quartet. • Ms. Harboyan enjoys a versatile musical career as a performer, chamber musician and teacher. • Both musicians perform regularly together."

This is Vol. 2 of piano transcriptions of Tchaikovsky's music. Vol.1 (DDA25093) covered orchestral and operatic music, and this volume contains music from the 3 great ballets. Apart from the Percy Grainer piece, these are all 1st recordings, brilliantly arranged for piano and superbly interpreted by Goldstone.

The major work in this second album of Rachmaninov’s works in the Russian Piano series is the First Sonata, a pinnacle of high late Romanticism. Less well known are the Moments Musicaux but they too are masterful pieces. Alfonso Soldano is professor of piano performance at the Giordano Conservatory in Foggia, Italy, following similar posts at Santa Cecilia Academy in Rome and in Trani. He was a student of Ciccolini and is renowned for his virtuosity. He was awarded the International Gold Medal for ‘Best Italian Artist’ in 2013 and has won many other competitions and is also a busy writer and transcriber. His previous recordings for Divine Art, of the music of Bortkiewicz and Castelnuovo-Tedesco, received glowing reviews. His Rachmaninov (Rachmaninoff for the American readers!) is equally magical.

British-born composer Lydia Kakabadse shows her multicultural heritage through her choral music. Written in the Western church tradition, her music is also highly influenced by the modes of middle-eastern music and ancient Greece. This collection of choral works consists of liturgical texts, some of which have been set into a mini-cantata, called a ‘Concert Requiem Mass’ by Kakabadse. Performing these works are alumni members of the renowned Clare College Choir.

This CD celebrates two notable milestones in American music: The 100th birthday of Elliott Carter (to whom we dedicate the CD) and the 100th anniversary of the birth of Miklis Rizsa, who sadly is no longer with us. Each wrote just one Piano Sonata - of which this is currently the only recording of the Rizsa piece) and they are presented with the Fourth Sonata (the Keltic) of Edward MacDowell. Splendid performances. This is the first of four projected volumes.

With over forty albums to their credit and a busy concert schedule stretching back more than thirty years, the British piano duo of Anthony Goldstone and Caroline Clemmow was firmly established as a leading force. Their recordings are not only brilliant performances but usually innovatively programmed, leading to rave reviews for every album. Sadly Goldstone died in January 2017 but their legacy lives on. This album was originally released in 2007 but withdrawn due to complex issues regarding one track. Now available again (without that track!) this is a superb rendition of music inspired by jazz and popular idioms, including the original piano duo versions (not transcriptions) of several of the pieces. The combination of these two great composers and one of the world's best-ever duos makes for a stunning recital album.

Bach's Concertos for keyboard and chamber orchestra are rightly acknowledged as masterpieces of the genre, and among the first truly great concertos of the Baroque/Early Classical period. They are performed with a wide variety of instrumentation, and here Peter Seivewright plays a modern Steinway Model D grand piano, accompanied by a baroque size ensemble, also using modern instruments, but in the authentic one-to-a-part style. The continuo here is provided, again authentically, by the Spanish guitar, which gives a warmer sound than the more common harpsichord.

The Trio made it's debut in Madrid in 1994, and it's first, acclaimed appearance at the Wigmore Hall in 1997. The Trio has appeared on BBC Radio 3 and 4 and has recorded the music for several BBC TV documentaries. John Bradbury is principal clarinet of the BBC Philharmonic and his identical twin Adrian appears with the London Sinfonietta and other highly regarded chamber groups. Emily Segal made her concerto debut at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. The work by Hugh Wood was commissioned by the Trio for the Cheltenham International Music Festival and this is it's first recording.

Originally issued on Hyperion LPs in 1981.

John McCabe (1939-2015) was renowned as both a pianist (a Haydn specialist and supporter of many contemporary composers) and as a composer in his own right of very fine music in several genres. This double album was created form two vinyl LPs issued by Hyperion in 1981 and shows McCabe as a first-class interpreter of the baroque and early classical sonata styles, here brought together. Domenico Scarlatti, an exact contemporary of Handel and JS Bach though living a few years longer, is probably the most renowned and certainly the most prolific of composers of the (usually single movement) keyboard sonata, more traditionally played on harpsichord. A hundred years later, pre-eminent among others, Clementi developed the classical piano sonata, introducing sustain and other dynamic effects available to the fortepiano, being produced by his family company among others. Both sets of works also translate very well to the modern concert grand.

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REVIEW:

John McCabe plays these works on a modern concert grand piano with no detriment to the success and enjoyment of this music. The tempi of some of these sonatas were criticised in a contemporary review in The Gramophone (January 1982). I am not an authority on the performance of 18th century Italian music; all I can say is that thus music seems to me to be played with a studied balance between flair, rhythmic freedom and a characteristic attention to detail.

– MusicWeb International

Haydn's wonderful Stabat Mater is far less well known than those of Pergolesi and other composers; this recording made in Paris in 1978 was a pioneering version using reconstructed scores and revised by renowned musicologist and scholar H C Robbins Landon. Also included is the even rarer LIBERA ME, only discovered in the mid 20th century. The soloists are: ANNA MARIA BONDI (soprano), CLAUDIA EDER (mezzo), AXEL REICHARDT (tenor) and KERT KRATTINGER (bass) with the Choral Philippe Caillard. As bonus tracks, we include classic 1964 recordings of the 44th Symphony (Trauersinfonie) and the rare Double Concerto for Violin and Harpsichord, which features violinist Jacques Francis Manzone and harpsichordist Francoise Petit.