Sjaella is the vocal ensemble of the moment to discover! Six talented and effervescent female singers who are not afraid of anything and demonstrate as much in a program entitled Origins, ranging from seventieth-century repertory to contemporary pieces. Out of the ether, into existence. The initial point. The beginning. The ever-recurring origin. Between minimalism and picturesque arias arise light, time, and all life. In Origins, the female vocal ensemble Sjaella focuses on natural cycles that have surrounded us since the dawn of time. In every era, people have experienced the changes in the seasons, the gentle rhythm of day and night, the individual flow of the body, and the transience of rebirth. All of these themes are presented as a unit, which forms a cycle of key concepts from the origin of life to a post-apocalyptic vacuum. The music contrasts and combines new arrangements of English songs of the seventeenth century, some of them from Henry Purcell’s The Fairy Queen, with contemporary pieces, including those in the American Minimalist style, such as David Lang’s Evening, Morning, Day. By including mainly commissioned works, the album shows Sjaella’s close collaboration with renowned international composers such as Paola Prestini, singer-songwriter Shara Nova and former King’s Singers member Philip Lawson.

Classical Music

Classical Music

SCHNITTKE Piano Concerto. 1 Improvisation and Fugue. Variations on a Chord • Victoria Lyubitskaya (pn); Mark Gorenstein, cond; 1 Russian St Academy O 1 • FUGA LIBERA 532 (44:11)


Alfred Schnittke (1943–1998) remains one of the seminal composers of the late 20th century, and any new recording of his music is welcome. His Piano Concerto was completed in 1979 and exemplifies his polystylism, bringing in echoes of Baroque and Classical music while undermining them with kaleidoscopic shifts of emphasis and cluster-filled interruptions. The composer himself described the result as musical “sleepwalking,” although the Concerto lacks the rambling quality of his austere late works.


Lyubitskaya’s playing is exceptionally clear, and she is ably supported by Gorenstein and the Russian State Academy Orchestra. The orchestra has a distinguished recording history, while Gorenstein was responsible for excellent Schnittke performances on the short-lived Popemusic label (albeit with a different band). As recorded here, the orchestral strings have that “glassy” sound we used to hear in early digital releases, despite this being a 2005 recording. The piano sound and balance are fine.


Lyubitskaya shines in the solo piano works, both written as student test pieces earlier in the composer’s career. She is more incisive than is Boris Berman on Chandos, underlining a stylistic link between early Schnittke and Shostakovich.


So this disc is recommended, but with the proviso that 44 minutes is unacceptably short timing for a full-priced CD, especially when other versions of the Piano Concerto are available. On the cheap Apex label you will find one by Viktoria Postnikova, conducted by her husband Gennady Rozhdestvensky (both close friends of the composer), which is the favorite in several online reviews. I find Postnikova heavy-handed and her approach unvaryingly monumental, preferring a more rounded performance by Ralf Gothoni on Ondine, if you can find it. The latter’s strings are better recorded, Gothoni’s pianism is subtler and at times genuinely dreamlike (cf. sleepwalking), while the couplings are substantial: the Third Violin Concerto and Third Violin Sonata with Mark Lubotsky.


However, if you don’t want much more than the concerto, Lyubitskaya will do you proud.


FANFARE: Phillip Scott

Icelandic bass-baritone Andri Björn Róbertsson, and pianist Ástríður Alda Sigurðardóttir, perform Robert Schumann’s Liederkreis op. 24 and Liederkreis op. 39, along with seven songs by the Icelandic composer Árni Thorsteinson. The two Liederkreise were composed during Schumann´s Year of Song in 1840. More than sixty years later Thorsteinson began publishing his songs, and they were instantly regarded as national treasures by the Icelandic nation. The program invites the listener on a mysterious journey through nature, love, death and the unknown. Andri Björn Róbertsson studied at the Reykjavík Academy of Singing and Vocal Arts in his native Iceland, RAM and the National Opera Studio. In the 2020/21 season, Icelandic bass-baritone Andri Björn Róbertsson returns to Zurich Opera with the La Scintilla Orchestra for St John’s Passion and revisits the roles of Witness 3 and Madman in George Benjamin’s Lessons in Love and Violence at the Châtelet.

Hirundo Maris has constantly explored new musical worlds and forms of expression since it was founded in 2009 under the direction of Arianna Savall and Petter Udland Johansen. They are now taking a completely different path with this new project for the label Fuga Libera, which is devoted to a great and wonderful song tradition, the nineteenth- and twentieth-century art song, featuring composers such as Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Fauré, Debussy, Mompou, Toldrà, García Lorca, de Falla and Grieg – all of whom were so significant for this chamber music genre. "The love of poetry and music that we (Arianna Savall and Petter Udland Johansen) share is something that we invariably explore in all our projects with Hirundo Maris. It was very important for us to do this in our own personal way, and to bring to the music our own personal sound and love. That is why we arranged all of the music anew so that it would integrate with the musical universe of Hirundo Maris. You will hear a great love and respect for this music made by these fantastic composers in the spirit of Hirundo Maris, with music coming from the sunny Mediterranean and reaching to frosty Scandinavia."

To us, the Rolston String Quartet, the music of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky is simply irresistible - and so, a debut album containing only his finest chamber works was an obvious choice. Cherished for his memorable and beautifully simplistic melodies, Tchaikovsky's music is innately joyous, virtuosic, and heart-wrenching, often all at once- yet never violent in nature. As musicians, we adore the charm and childhood nostalgia that Tchaikovsky is able to encompass from start to finish. In this album, we have selected a work from each of his early, middle, and late periods: his String Quartet No. 1 in D major, selections from his Children's Album, and his beloved Souvenir de Florence for string sextet. Not only could we showcase a quartet that we treasure, but we were given the opportunity to collaborate with two of the Chapel's brilliant professors: violist Miguel da Silva and cellist Gary Hoffman. We gravitate towards Tchaikovsky's chamber music more than other composers' because of his stunning ability to write symphonically: right form the opening chords of the D major quartet, Tchaikovsky expands the sonic possibilities of the traditional string quartet towards that of a symphony orchestra. To round out the program are five delicate and endearing pieces: our favorite selections from Tchaikovsky's Children's Album for solo piano, arranged for string quartet by Rostislav Dubinsky, the founding first violinist of the Borodin Quartet.

For his first recording Sat�nik Khourdo�an, concertmaster of the Orchestre symphonique de la Monnaie and an enthusiastic and passionate violinist, joins forces with the gifted pianist Alexander Gurning, who has received numerous awards for his qualities as a chamber music performer. Faur� and Saint-Sa�ns found in Ysa�e a virtuoso performer and an exceptional ally in getting their music known, who was on friendly terms with both men, and who was also a composer himself. They often played together in Paris, notably at the concerts of the Soci�t� nationale, and in the Brussels salons of the XX and the Libre Esth�tique. Khourdoian devotes his debut album to the music of all three distinguished French musicians.

The winner of the International Bruges Musica Antiqua Competition, Naruhiko Kawaguchi has made a name for himself thanks to his sensitive and nuanced interpretations and his expressive style of fortepiano playing. In this album, the young artist has put together a programme devoted to Schubert and performed on a period instrument. You will (re)discover such works as the Ungarische Melodie D817, the Adagio D612, the Wanderer-Fantasie, D760 and the Four Impromptus D899, as well as Franz Liszt’s solo piano arrangements of some of his lieder – Trockne Blumen, Der Mu¨ller und der Bach and Meeresstille. Always keen to get involved with talented young musicians, Outhere Music has been a partner of the MAFestival for several years now and offers one of its winners the chance to make a recording – which will be released this year on the Fuga Libera label. Naruhiko Kawaguchi is a new example of Outhere’s wish to promote promising young artists and aid their career development.

Classical Music

The fusion between the string quartet, the perfect expression of the European 'classical' tradition, and the bandoneon, the musical embodiment of Argentina, is presented here in two quite different works. The Five Tango Sensations were originally written for Lutz Mommartz's experimental film Tango durch Deutschland. In 1989, Piazzolla resurrected five of the original seven pieces in response to a commission from the Kronos Quartet, renaming them Five Tango Sensations. This work occupies a special place in the ocean of Astor Piazzolla's music for two reasons: it is his only suite for bandoneon and string quartet, and it departs from the standard Piazzollian framework in both form and language. The suite Les Hommes de Piaf was originally a series of arrangements for string quartet and bandoneon based on tunes from the repertoire of Edith Piaf. But the composer's pen trumped the arranger's, imposing a texture in which the songs no longer play the leading role. Neither descriptive nor abstract, the suite Les Hommes de Piaf is merely a fantasised expression of states in which love can be by turns paradoxical, destructive, idealised, impossible or sensory, through a kaleidoscopic 'Piaf filter'.

"•The Brussels-based Hathor Consort, founded 2011, explores consort music stretching from the Renaissance to the Baroque era, using diverse instrumental combinations, with the viola da gamba as a starting point. • For this debut recording, the ensemble has chosen a pièce de résistance of the consort repertoire, the melancholic Lachrimae, or Seven Tears collection of John Dowland (1563-1626)."

Classical Music

For their fourth Fuga Libera-project, the Russian orchestra Musica Viva recorded one very famous, and one forgotten piece by Antonín Dvorak. The well-known piece is the Serenade for Strings in E major, written by Dvorak in 1875. It is believed that Dvorak took up this small orchestral genre because it was less demanding than the symphony, but allowed for the provision of pleasure and entertainment. The other piece is the Cello Concerto in A major. Unlike its brother, the B minor Concerto Op. 104, this concerto has been more than overlooked. It was left un-orchestrated by Dvorak, existing only in piano-score form. It was only after his death that a few composers orchestrated this dazzling piece of music. Cello virtuoso Alexander Rudin, and Musica Viva let us taste from this magnificent forgotten treasure...

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

João Barradas writes: "For my first classical album, I wanted to mix original works for my instrument with transcriptions of works by composers whose art had created and formed my love for Western classical music, and so I created a wide-ranging program. One choice was obvious: the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, then came Domenico Scarlatti and Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck. My first choices of music written specifically for accordion were works by Luciano Berio and Astor Piazzolla, a composer and a performer who gave the accordion a new musical language. The program is completed with the French composer Yann Robin, who composed his E[NI]GMA for me and made me its dedicatee."

Classical Music

Classical Music

Founded nearly eighty years ago, the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne enjoys an enviable reputation and has welcomed the greatest artists as its guests, from Clara Haskil and Alfred Cortot to Murray Perahia and Martha Argerich, from Paul Hindemith to Günter Wand. Despite its long history, the orchestra has had only six musical directors, including Armin Jordan from 1973 to 1985. The young American conductor Joshua Weilerstein succeeded Christian Zacharias in 2015. In addition to his conducting skills and his interest in rare repertory, he has also brought a love of musical outreach. His very popular podcast, ‘Sticky Notes’, discusses music in an accessible way. This recording is devoted to Shostakovich’s Chamber Symphonies opp.73a and 83a, which are Rudolf Barshai’s arrangements of the String Quartets nos. 3 and 4. Barshai, one of the leading violists of his time, was a friend of Shostakovich and their collaboration was long and intensive. The chamber orchestra arrangements of these famous quartets offer a completely different perspective on the original works and were praised by Shostakovich himself, who reportedly said of one of them that it ‘sounded better than the original’. As a complement to the two works, Joshua Weilerstein shares his interpretation in a bonus spoken word track.

Eug�ne Ysa�e, a violin virtuoso admired by all his contemporaries, was an inheritor of what has justly been considered as the Belgian school of violin, whose ascendancy can be traced back to the beginning of the 19th century. His work as a composer, however, is much less well known today and it is this facet of his extraordinarily active life that we will explore here. He composed many different types of works; here we present his works for solo violin and orchestra, including two movements of violin concertos which are now available on record for the first time, and his chamber music. A great champion of the music of his time, Ysa�e gave the first performances of a great number of works, many of which were dedicated to him as well as having been commissioned by him; the most well-known of these pieces are also included here. This fascinating boxed set from the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel is a fine example of the work of this important musical institution: it features the Chapel's masters and the young soloists who trained there alongside two Belgian orchestras of international renown.

" In 2014, Fuga Libera celebrates the 25th anniversary of the baroque orchestra Il Fondamento. Founded in Belgium by the oboist Paul Dombrecht - renowned for his interpretations of baroque music -, the ensemble has gained an international interpretation, cand opposing less-known works with masterpieces. This set of three recordings by Johann Heinrich Fasch, Albinoni, and Bach were all highly acclaimed by the international press (Diapason d’or, R10 Classica, Supersonic pizzicato…)!"

Classical Music

The Trio Zadig marks this Saint-Saëns anniversary year by presenting him not only as a composer but also as a transcriber of other composers’ works. Rameau’s Pièces de clavecin en concerts 1 and 5, together with Liszt’s Orpheus, both arranged by Saint-Saëns for piano trio, frame his own op. 92. This programme gives the listener the impression of travelling through both time and space, in the 18th and 20th centuries, in Hungary and in France. The Zadig trio remain true to their quest for unusual and unfamiliar repertoire; following the example of Voltaire’s hero, they continue their adventures in the world of chamber music.