In the 19th century, Italy and Spain were not only countries of longing, but also sources of inspiration. An illustrious group of composers, including celebrities from countries further north such as Johannes Brahms, expressed this longing in a variety of ways. In the wake of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the Germans primarily sought themselves in Italy, while the Romantics sought the Orient in Spain. The French composers of the second half of the 19th century were enthusiastic travellers to Spain who tried to capture the Spanish colours with their very own colouring. Gioacchino Rossini reminisced about his homeland and the Adriatic Sea in Paris, while Fernando Obradors set classical Spanish poetry, including Federico García Lorca, to music on the Canary Islands. Carmen Artaza and Hilko Dumno breathe Mediterranean temperament into all of this and unfold a vibrant colourfulness.

Albert Roussel’s chamber works are relatively unknown, yet he composed a significant body of masterful works. The majestic Violin Sonata No. 1 and the dynamic neo-Classical Violin Sonata No. 2 are coupled with the String Trio, Roussel’s last completed work. Violinist David Bowlin and pianist Tony Cho are both highly regarded soloists and faculty members of Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio, where the album was recorded.

REVIEW:

All three chamber music works are characterized by skillful craftsmanship. The First Sonata is the most extensive of all Roussel's chamber music works and is markedly serious. The Second Violin Sonata is only about half as long, but just as determined. The String Trio, his last completed work, is a striking example of his late style.

The musicians offer the works with an extremely positive commitment that immediately engages the listener. Each of the three pieces has its own character that makes it unmistakable and the performers bring this out skillfully. They form lively narratives in tones that breathe life into the largely unknown in a delightful way. In terms of design, they explore the music in all directions and know how to integrate the details into the overall picture, creating a cohesive form from the first to the last note. We can be grateful that they have taken on the works in such a convincing way.

-- Pizzicato

Angel Stanislav Wang (b. 2003, California), winner of the 2022 Jaén Prize International Piano Competition, presents his debut recital featuring Liszt’s monumental Sonata in B minor, and Shostakovich’s Piano Quintet in G minor accompanied by the Bretón String Quartet, plus excerpts from Granados's Goyescas and the competition imposed work Poema a un amor eterno by Laura Vega.

SOMM Recordings is thrilled to announce African Pianism, Volume 2, a new installment in a collection of piano music by African composers. Following suit from her critically acclaimed first African Pianism album, Rebeca Omordia brings us a fascinating program with no less than 8 First Recordings. Among these is the 4th in a selection of three Studies in African Pianism by Akin Euba, a Nigerian composer who makes a return on this second volume and whose “African Pianism” style, inspired by the research of Ghanaian composer J.H. Kwabena Nketia. The music of Algerian composer Salim Dada attempts to be a means by which a natural message of peace and dialogue may exist between the Arab-Muslim world and European civilization. Moroccan composer Nabil Benabdeljalil, like Akin Euba, makes a second appearance in this series with a new set of four pieces including 3 first recordings. Fellow South African Grant McLachlan contributes his arrangement for solo piano of the anti-apartheid protest song “Senzeni Na?”, which begins “What have we done? Is our sin that we are black?”. Fela Sowande, a Nigerian composer of the previous century, figures on the program with hauntingly original “K’A Mura” from 2 Preludes on Yoruba Sacred Folk Melodies. Also representing the first half of the 20th century is celebrated African American composer Florence Price in her luxuriantly pianistic Fantasie nègre.

Hailed as an "African classical music pioneer" (BBC World Service) and "a classical music game changer" (Classical Music), award-winning pianist Rebeca Omordia is an exciting virtuoso with a wide-ranging career as soloist, chamber musician and recording artist.

These four central-European composers share a history of persecution and emigration but survived the worst excesses of the time. Their works for flute and piano reflect very different aesthetic positions. Schoenberg’s uncompromising Sonata for Flute and Piano is an arrangement of his Wind Quintet, Op. 26 of 1923–24 made a few years later by the Austrian composer Felix Greissle. The Suite by Ernst Krenek is delightfully neo-Classical, whilst the Czech Emil Burian crafted an eloquent, light-hearted work, heard here in its first recording. Paul Dessau’s Guernica was written for piano in 1937 and memorialises the tragedy of that bombed city.

This debut album, from Germany-based ensemble Conceptus, features music for tenor and ensemble by Butterworth, Warlock, Holst, and Bridge, in addition to Timothy Collins’ Sea Song. Collins has composed and arranged extensively for the ensemble.

Sea Song – Timothy Collins
Originally composed in 2018 and set to the poignant poetry of Katherine Mansfield, this evocative piece delves into themes of aging, sorrow, and loss. Conceptus has brought Collins' musical narrative to life with an accompanying 10-minute music film available on Apple Music and YouTube.

Six Songs from a Shropshire Lad – George Butterworth
Delving into themes of nostalgia and the tragedy of lost youth, this collection, originally composed in 1911, captures the essence of Alfred Edward Housman's timeless poetry. Collins' arrangements embellish the poignant resonance of Butterworth's work, forever etched in the annals of English song.

The Curlew – Peter Warlock
Peter Warlock's masterwork, "The Curlew," meticulously arranged for Conceptus by Timothy Collins. Woven from the poetry of William Butler Yeats, this haunting composition, originally scored for string quartet, cor anglais, and flute, delves into macabre imagery and desolate landscapes.

Hymns from the Rig Veda Opus 24 – Gustav Holst
"Hymns from the Rig Veda" is transfigured by Conceptus with these arrangements from Timothy Collins. Drawing inspiration from ancient Sanskrit texts dating back to 1500 BCE, Holst's choral triumph offers a reverent exploration of Hindu philosophical thought. Experience the profound resonance of Holst's sacred compositions as Conceptus breathes new life into these timeless hymns.

Three Songs by Frank Bridge
From the reflective tones of "Come To Me In My Dreams" to the mythological allure of "Love Went A-Riding," Conceptus navigates the emotional depths of Bridge's compositions with grace and finesse.

Conceptus is an international, multi-faceted, and multi-disciplinary ensemble with membership drawn from Germany, Russia, Spain, the United Kingdom, Poland, and Australia. Formed in 2021, the ensemble is dedicated to bringing new life to great works of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and beyond, with a particular emphasis on Late Romantic British vocal music and song cycles.

Conceptus has also commissioned works by award-winning German composer, organist, and conductor Christoph Ritter, whose Requiem is set for a world premiere and recording in 2024. Conceptus Artistic Director, Scott Robert Shaw, released his acclaimed debut “The English Tenor” on Divine Art in 2023.

SOMM RECORDINGS is delighted to announce Vaughan Williams – A Birthday Garland, the debut on disc of baritone Roderick Williams and pianist Susie Allan’s popular concert tribute to Ralph Vaughan Williams originally marking the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth in 2022.

Curating a “fantasy birthday party concert” in tribute to “the grand-daddy of 20th-century English song”, Williams has assembled pieces by RVW and 18 fellow composers. The result is a wide-ranging celebration of the rich variety of English song over a century and more that pays tribute to Vaughan Williams’ influence with songs inspired by poets ranging from Shakespeare and Tennyson to W.B. Yeats and Walt Whitman.

First recordings include Herbert Howell’s The Sorrow of Love, a setting of the Irish poet Seamus O’Sullivan; Sarah Cattley’s A Square and Candle-lighted Boat, treating verses by RVW’s cousin, Frances Cornford; and Roderick Williams’ own distinctive take on William Blake’s The Shepherd.

The 30-song recital includes songs by RVW’s teachers (Stanford, Parry, Wood, Bruch, Ravel), friends (Holst, Gurney, Howells, Butterworth, Finzi and others), and pupils (Grace Williams, Ina Boyle, Ruth Gipps, Elizabeth Maconchy and Madeleine Dring). Vaughan Williams’ biographer Simon Heffer provides authoritative booklet notes.

SOMM’s previous Vaughan Williams releases include the widely acclaimed four-volume Vaughan Williams Live series (SOMM ARIADNE 5016, 5018, 5019-2, 5020); Mark Bebbington and Rebeca Omordia’s “compelling” (International Piano) survey of his Piano Music (SOMMCD 0164); and the “priceless document” (MusicWeb International) coupling the Fifth Symphony and Dona nobis pace (SOMMCD 071).

Roderick Williams and Susie Allan’s previous SOMM releases include Celebrating English Song (SOMMCD 0177), lauded by Gramophone as “a treat”; the Ivor Gurney-focused Severn & Somme (SOMM 057), “strongly recommended” by BBC Music Magazine; and Somervell’s A Shropshire Lad and Maud (SOMMCD 0615), “performances of much beauty, empathy and sensitivity” (British Music Society).

The Neave Trio's program Rooted features a range of works based on folk music. Smetana's distinctive nationalistic style was largely based on the inclusion of bohemian rhythmic and melodic elements, and he was acclaimed in his native Bohemia as the father of Czech music. His Trio in G minor was composed in 1855 as a response to the death of his four-year old daughter and shows the influence of Liszt. Josef Suk was a favorite pupil of Dvorak's, and his early Piano Trio, whilst shorter in length and less intense than Smetana's, is embedded in that Czech tradition. Also deeply influenced by Dvorak, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was inspired by his African heritage, as well, and his Twenty-Four Negro Melodies for Piano was a prime example of his research. He subsequently arranged five of these pieces into the suite for piano trio that we hear on this album. The program concludes with Frank Martin's Trio from 1925, which is based on traditional Irish melodies.

REVIEWS:

These four chamber works explore music of a definitive national identity. The members of the ensemble brandish their considerable skills in the service of otherwise neglected composers and scores, with astonishing brilliance in their recorded sound.

— Audiophile Audition

The program's characteristically eclectic mix of works nurtures the Trio's well-upholstered warmth, attention to detail, and compelling rapport.

— BBC Music Magazine

César Franck's only symphony came at a time when the French music world was seeking to rival the great Austro-German tradition. The 'darkness-to-light' narrative of the Symphony in D minor owes a debt to Beethoven and there is a unique power within its distinctive themes, innovative cyclic form, and general gravitas. Franck's student Ernest Chausson was no doubt inspired by his teachers thematic metamorphoses, but the anguished influence of the ever-present Wagner is also ever present.

The published score of Chausson's Symphony in B-flat includes many errors which conductor Jean-Luc Tingaud meticulously corrected after careful study of the composer's autograph manuscripts.

With this programme, we want to show that these female composers - Josephine Lang and Ethel Smyth - can not only hold their own alongside an established and frequently performed song cycle by one of the "big names", Richard Strauss, but that their emotionality, quality and compositional accuracy are absolutely essential in the great canon of song literature, because that is where they undoubtedly belong, bringing a unique perspective and a message that is still far too little heard to this colourful genre in the most creative way. Duo Yvonne Prentki/Benedikt ter Braak