The Czechenyi dynasty stood at the heart of Hungary’s political and musical life in the 19th and 20th centuries. Their ideal milieu lay in the vibrant, melodious dance-patterned music, of which Imre’s Waltz No. 1 is a perfect example. Odon’s highly accomplished works reflect his sophisticated wit, whilst in Franciska, Hungary had its first female composer and in Gisa, the world’s first female film composer. Hungarian pianist Istvan Kassai graduated the Budapest Liszt Academy of Music in 1982. He continued his studies at the Conservatoire Europeen de Musiques de Paris. During his career, he has won several first prizes in international competitions such as the International Youth Piano Competition in Usti nad Labem, and the Hungarian Radio Piano Competition. György Lázár graduated from Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music Teacher Training Institute as a piano teacher in 1988. In August 1989 he became a member of the Hungarian State Opera Ballet as a ballet faculty director, and he is the main director since 2005. Between his directorial tasks he performs as a piano artist in Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra.

Florent Schmitt was a strikingly original composer whose influences were as varied as his own restless and imaginative music. A number of his solo piano works are little known and offer an important insight into his compositional development. Neuf Pièces, Op. 27, which includes a Spanish-infused Gitanella movement, was composed during his first period of travel. The expressive and vivid elements of Crépuscules, Op. 56 are infused with harmonic richness and quiet melancholy, while Ritournelle, Op. 2 No. IIbis displays an airiness and wit characteristic of French music of the Roaring Twenties. Internationally renowned pianist, Biljana Urban, presents a selection of neglected gems of French piano literature including many world première recordings.

The career of Polish composer Alexandre Tansman flourished in Paris after the First World War, though it’s only in recent years that it has begun to be explored in depth in recordings. A refined but spiritually engaged neo-Classicism remained a constant feature of his music-making in Europe and in his temporary American exile, whether in the beautifully evocative travelogue Visit to Israel or in the clarity of the Interludes and Caprices. Giorgio Koukl is a pianist/harpsichordist and composer. He studied at both the Conservatories of Zurich and Milan, where he took part in the masterclasses of Nikita Magaloff, Jacques Fevrier, and Stanislaus Neuhaus, and with Rudolf Firkusny, friend and advocate of Czech composer Bohuslav Martinu. It was through Firkusny that Koukl first encountered Martinu’s music, prompting him to search out his compatriot’s solo piano works. Since then he has developed these into an important part of his concert repertoire and is now considered one of the world’s leading interpreters of Martinu’s piano music. As a logical continuation of this work, Koukl has recorded the complete solo piano works of Paul Le Flem, Alexander Tchereprnin, Arthur Lourie, Vitezslava Kapralova, and Witold Lutoslawski.

Fernando Lopes-Graca and Amilcar Vasques-Dias are linked in their musical reflections on Portuguese identity, but at widely differing points in that country’s history. Lopes-Graca transformed traditional songs into poetic and hard-edged statements, helping to create a ‘national collective spirit’ that would not be bowed by dictatorship. Vasques-Dias’s approach to folk culture is based on more personal feelings and emotions, recalling the countryside of his childhood and its landscapes today. Joana Gama is a Portuguese pianist who has participated in multiple projects, both as a soloist and within collaborations, not only in classical music, but also in the fields of cinema, dance, theatre, and experimental music. This recording is the outcome of years dedicated to the research and performance of Portuguese music. In 2017, Gama defended her doctoral thesis ‘Performance studies on Portuguese contemporary music for piano: the particular case of evocative music of elements of the Portuguese culture’ at the University of Evora, with a scholarship granted by the Portuguese government.

Nino Rota embraced neo-Classical, neo-Romantic and even neo-Baroque affiliations. His music prized melodic directness and communicative generosity and it is not therefore surprising that he should be best known for his epochal film scores – the music for The Godfather pre-eminently. Nino Rota’s 15 Preludes utilise melodic and harmonic explorations to chart music that is agitated and melancholic, but also joyous and comedic. The Fantasia in G comprises seven themes – folkloric, droll and ultimately heroic. A late work, the 7 Pezzi difficili per bambini is generous in its emotional directness. Eleanor Hodgkinson is a sought-after pianist and chamber musician. She partners a wide range of soloists and has performed at major venues including the South Bank Centre, Barbican Centre, Symphony Hall in Birmingham and St. John’s Smith Square. Recitals have taken her to North America, Denmark, Holland, Germany and France as well as extensive travel aboard cruise liners. She is one half of the piano duo, Duo Volante, and is the pianist with the Nimbus Ensemble and Harborough Collective. Eleanor also works with the Orchestra of the Swan and Mid-Wales Opera. As a founder member of the Elgin Piano Trio, she played throughout the UK to critical acclaim from 1999 to 2009. Her versatility has led to numerous collaborations, including a commission The Archduke Variations, with dancers of the Royal Ballet and premieres of British music in the Vigani’s Cabinet project at Queens’ College, Cambridge 2005–2007.

 

REVIEW:

 

Nino Rota wrote in many musical forms including film scores, concert music, and for solo instruments. Most listeners are familiar with his film scores for Federico Fellini and Franco Zefferelli. Rota wrote for a wide variety of musical requirements, but his style remained primarily neo-classical and neo-romantic. This worthwhile release explores some of the lesser known Rota repertory.

 

The 15 Preludes are from 1964—a very productive period for Rota, including several film scores and concert pieces that reflect a neo-classical sound, similar to Prokofieff. Some of the Preludes’ melancholic nature is like some of his film scores with a wistfulness and introspectiveness (marked Andante) that are low-key. But most of the Preludes are marked Allegro or Allegretto. Each is about two minutes so must make its point quickly with little development.

 

The Fantasia in G (1944-1945) in comparison is absolutely beautiful. At 16 minutes the seven main themes are fully developed and intermixed, and there is a restrained tension that overlies the neo-romantic sound. There are several lovely sequences, some with a folk-like character. Rota uses a sufficient variety of modes, rhythms, metric patterns, and musical progressions to maintain interest. You’ll want to repeat this almost immediately.

 

The Seven Difficult Pieces for Children are deceptively simple in texture and direct in their melodies and emotional communication with the listener. They sound somewhat similar to Bela Bartok’s Mikrokosmos. They are all very enjoyable and display a lighter side to Rota’s music.

Ms. Hodgkinson plays all beautifully, with a solid warm tone that draws the listener into the music. The sound is exceptional. I enjoyed this.

 

– American Record Guide

The program included in this album spans almost twenty years of composer Erwin Schulhoff’s career. Tracks included are Suite dansante en Jazz (1931), 9 Kleine Reigen (1913), Ostinato (1925), 5 Etudes de Jazz (1926), and Zez Confrey's Kitten on the Keys (1921). The influence of jazz, ragtime, Expressionism, and Dada are clearly heard in these works, some of which are rarely recorded. Caroline Weichert breathes new life into this music. Booklet notes are available in English and German.

Aram Il’yich Khachaturian was considered the ‘mouthpiece of the entire Soviet Orient’ and remains the most renowned of 20th-century Armenian composers. His unmistakable style came with an urge to invent new forms that reconciled Western practice with Eastern idiom. His ‘apprentice’ Fugues were revised and enriched with Recitatives that conjure the colorful voices of Khachaturian’s childhood in Tbilisi. Refreshingly original, amusing and provocative, the Children’s Albums belong to a tradition that reaches back to Bach, Schumann and Tchaikovsky. The Maltese pianist Charlene Farrugia studied with Dolores Amodio, and with Diana Ketler at the Royal Academy of Music in London. For several years she was mentored by Boris Petrushansky. She gained her doctorate in performance under Kenneth Hamilton with a thesis on piano repertory for the left hand. In 2018 she received Malta’s International Achievement Award, and was made an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music in 2020. An ambassador of EMMA (Euro Mediterranean Music Academy) for Peace, under the auspices of UNESCO, she is currently on the teaching faculty at the Music Academy, Juraj Dobrila University of Pula, Croatia.

Ge Gan-ru’s Twelve Preludes is heard here in the world premiere recording of its revised version. The release also features Ancient Music, in which he employs the prepared piano to evoke the intimate sounds of Chinese instruments, as well as Wrong, Wrong, Wrong! and the world premiere recording of Hard, Hard, Hard! written for toy piano. Yiming Zhang has a wide spectrum of musical interests ranging from the Baroque period to the present day. In recent years, he has pursued a particular interest in contemporary Chinese piano music, and has comprehensively researched and performed the piano music of the composer Wang Lisan. Besides this recording project of the complete piano works of Wang Lisan for Naxos, he has also written a substantial biography of the composer, for publication by the People’s Music Publishing House. In addition, he is a frequent collaborator with other contemporary Chinese composers such as Ge Gan-ru (b.1954) and Wang Xilin (b.1937).

Polish composer Alfons Szczerbiński was born at a time of upheaval in Europe during the second half of the 19th century. A prominent Polish talent in the Romantic mold, Szczerbiński was profoundly influenced by the harmonic models of Bach, Haydn and Mozart. His surviving music is mostly written for the piano but many of his compositions were either lost during the First World War or destroyed by the composer himself. Heard here in their world première recordings, the Chansons sans paroles are Romantic miniatures that possess rich melodic elegance and marvelous phrasal beauty, sometimes redolent of Mendelssohn, Chopin or Liszt.

Selim Palmgren, a student of Busoni, was one of the most prominent Finnish composer-pianists of his time, and his pieces for pedagogical use such as Kevätauerta (‘Spring Haze’) are still popular today. This programme reveals Palmgren’s versatility to the full, with the Deux contrastes describing opposite poles of melancholy and joyous playfulness, and the dreamy Prelude-Nocturne a jazz-tinted reminiscence of 1920s America. Displaying a wide variety of technical and stylistic challenges, Palmgren’s 24 Preludes also features one of the first examples of Impressionism in Nordic piano literature.

This fascinating collection of rare and distinctive piano works, from the 18th century to the present, is inspired by stories of how women composers created music while meeting the expectations of family and society. Hiroko Ishimoto brings together a remarkably varied programme including works by Ana Bon who was ‘chamber music virtuosa’ at the Prussian court of King Frederick the Great, the bold harmonies of Vít?zslava Kaprálová (a student of Martin?), as well as pieces by Amy Beach based on the calls of the hermit thrush, and so much more.

Alexey Stanchinsky was considered an outstanding student by his teacher Taneyev, his work anticipating Stravinsky, Prokofiev and others, paving the way towards many aspects of twentieth-century style. His tragic early death and publishing difficulties meant that his music was hidden for decades. Volume 1 of this complete edition contains his entire output until 1910, including several world premiere recordings and revealing his early melodic gift and sophisticated virtuosity. Pianist Olga Solovieva was born in Moscow, graduated from the Russian Academy of Music, Moscow, and took a postgraduate course as an assistant to Leonid Blok. Since 2004 she has been a professor at the Gnessin State Musical College, and has given masterclasses in Ireland and Belgium. Solovieva was a prizewinner of the 1999 Taneyev Competition of Chamber Ensembles, a finalist of the 2000 XX Chamber Music Competition in Trapani, Italy, a 2010 Boris Tchaikovsky Society Award Winner, and was awarded the Best Accompanist Prize at the XII International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. In May 2019 she received the Russian public award for her contribution to the development of the musical art and the Glinka Medal.

One of Philip Glass’ most glorious themes, this release focuses on the subject of love. From his BAFTA award-winning music for The Hours to his iconic Music In Fifths, the genius of this composer is felt throughout the duration of this album. The Hours is featured here in its entirety, complete with three previously unpublished movements. The release also includes the breathtaking Modern Love Waltz and the world premiere recording of Notes On A Scandal. Performing these works is Nicolas Horvath.

Henrique Oswald was one of the most important composers in South America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His European-influenced music was suppressed by Brazilian nationalist sentiment in the 1930s and 40s, but on Oswald’s death Villa-Lobos described him as “the most admirable composer of this country”. This programme provides an excellent overview of his stylistic development, from the youthful, salon music aesthetic of Pagine d’album (album leaves, influenced by similarly titled works by Robert Schumann and others) to the French impressionism of the Album Op. 36 and the masterful Trois Études.

Streamed over 9,000,000 times and counting!

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REVIEWS:

All these miniatures are beautiful and exquisite, and this is an immensely enjoyable recital. The mood is generally congenial, sometimes melancholy, and without emotional extremes. …Monteiro plays well…

© 2016 American Record Guide

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Brazilian-born Henrique Oswald was the most famous composer working in South America in the 20th century, though his music came from years spent in Europe. 

... At the heart of Sergio Monteiro’s programme we have the three Albums that are highly attractive and obviously intended for the sheet music market, technical difficulties kept within the realms of amateur pianists. The Three Etudes are musically on a different planet, with more weight and substance, though please also look out the Marco Parlo disc where the works are of more substance. The multi-awarding winning Brazilian pianist is a persuasive champion, and the use of a small recording venue reinforces the music’s salon credentials.

© 2015 David’s Review Corner

Hélène de Montgeroult began her career as a student of Muzio Clementi in Paris. She survived the French Revolution – during which, as an aristocrat, her life was in grave danger – to become a celebrated pianist, composer and author of a famous piano method. Her compositional language in these nine sonatas is wide and includes Italianate models as well as elements that reflect the influences of Franz Joseph Haydn and Wofgang Amadeus Mozart, with chromatic and surprising harmonies, contrasts of register, chorale-like nobility and brilliantly athletic finales. Featuring several world première recordings, these sonatas represent a major contribution to the French repertoire of the late Classical and early Romantic periods, played with characteristic brilliance and subtlety by the composer's latest champion: Nicolas Horvath.