Piano Music - Schumann, R. / Mozart, W.A. / Beethoven, L. Va

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

With his second concerto disc, Yevgeny Sudbin celebrates the close relationship between two great Russian composers: Sergei Rachmaninov and Nikolai Medtner. Medtner would encourage his more famous colleague during the latter's recurring bouts of self-doubt, while Rachmaninov early on recognized Medtner's unique gifts, pronouncing him the 'greatest composer of our time'. The most sincere testament to their friendship is embodied in these two concertos, which the composers dedicated to one another. Both works were composed in the mid-1920s, with Medtner referring to works by Rachmaninov in his final movement and Rachmaninov worrying in letters to his fellow-composer about the length of his own concerto. Rachmaninov's concerto was first performed in 1926, but was panned by the critics - in part because of its duration - and the composer immediately began to make revisions and cuts. Never completely happy with the revised version, published in 1928, he made another attempt in 1941, cutting a tenth of the original work, mainly from the final movement. Having chosen to record the rarely heard original 1926 version, Yevgeny Sudbin makes an eloquent case for it in his own liner notes, calling it 'a truly epic work' with the addition 'and much more insanely difficult than the revised version.' In his advocacy for Medtner's even more expansive and all but ignored Second Piano Concerto, Sudbin is equally forthright: 'Why this concerto is not performed more often remains a mystery and is nothing short of scandalous: it offers everything a pianist, or a conductor, can wish for.' An avowed Medtner champion, Sudbin has previously recorded the composer's First Piano Concerto, combined with that of Tchaikovsky, on a disc which received a number of distinctions, including the nomination to a 2007 Gramophone Award. Reviewers described the release as 'another step in Sudbin's inexorable progress to the forefront of his generation of pianists' (Gramophone) and the soloist as 'one of the most exceptional musicians of his generation' (Le Monde de la Musique). On the present disc Sudbin receives the expert support of North Carolina Symphony conducted by Grant Llewellyn.

Classical Music

The lute flourished for more than five hundred years, until it's decline towards the end of the eighteenth century, and for large parts of that time it was the most important instrument in all of Western music. Some of the most exciting developments took place in the 1500's, including the first instances of printed lute music as well as changes to the instrument itself. On this release, Jakob Lindberg, one of the great lutenists of our time, pays tribute to three colleagues from 600 years ago: Francesco da Milano, Marco dall'Aquila and Alberto da Mantova.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

American music is culturally diverse and exciting, mirroring all the best America has to offer. The last two centuries have seen an extraordinary flowering of musical life in the United States. In recognition of the many gifted American men and women of music, Naxos is pleased to present the American Classic Series.

When complete, this series will consist of over 200 titles, exploring the full spectrum of American concert music. All the familiar names are there: Copland, Ives, Grofé, Barber, and Sousa but so are many others such as: Bennett, Dédé, Foote, McKay, and Siegmeister all of whom have contributed to the rich musical tapestry that is American.

All of us at Naxos invite you to journey with us as we set out to discover America.


Click Here for the complete Naxos American Classic Series

From the French piano literature of the first half of the 20th c. Kathryn Stott has selected four 'solitaires' – each work occupying a special place in its composer’s œuvre. Jehan Alain's brief Prelude (1935) is followed by Henri Dutilleux’s only piano sonata (1948), written for and premiered by Geneviève Joy, the composer’s wife.
Dedications to friends of the composer killed in the first years of WWI mark Maurice Ravel's Le Tombeau de Couperin, his last work for piano solo. Closing the disc is Le baiser de l’Enfant-Jésus from Olivier Messiaen's monumental fresco Vingt regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus.

FRANCK: Great Organ Works, Vol. 2

Classical Music

Ludwig van Beethoven’s first printed work was a set of variations, published in 1783 when he was only twelve years old and his final keyboard composition was the massive set of thirty-three variations on a theme by Anton Diabelli, composed almost four decades later. Not counting the several movements in variation form included in the sonatas, his twenty-one sets of piano variations thus trace a line of development in his production, parallel to those formed by the 32 piano sonatas or the 16 string quartets. On this the 14th volume in his acclaimed traversal of Beethoven's keyboard music, Ronald Brautigam performs five sets, composed between 1802 and 1809. In three of these Beethoven uses themes of his own, including the Ruins of Athens Variations, Op.76, nick-named after the play for which Beethoven later wrote incidental music, reusing the martial theme in a 'Turkish march'. The two remaining sets both use English themes Beethoven’s choice of God save the King and Rule Britannia may well reflect his often expressed respect for that country – as well as his interest in the English market for sheet music. As the final part of the programme, Brautigam includes a selection of smaller pieces, most of them of an earlier date than the preceding variations. Some of these are probably student pieces, in particular the Preludes Op.39 and WoO 55 and the Fugue in C major, fruits of the counterpoint exercises Beethoven was assigned by his first teacher, Christian Gottlob Neefe, and by Johann Albrechtsberger. Six dances close a disc that offers many opportunities to glimpse another Beethoven than the composer we all believe we know.

Spanning a fifty year period, from the Three Pieces for Flute Duet of 1935 to his homage to the Kyoto Zen garden Ryoanji from 1984, this first volume of John Cage's complete works for flute with Katrin Zenz provides a way to access Cage's music and hear his development throughout the decades of his impressively long career. From his 12 tone influenced early years that yielded works of astonishing beauty to the latter years that included electronics, song sprech and unorthodox scoring, Complete Works for Flute provides insight to this master's various musical directions as the 20th century unfolded. Includes the world premiere recording of Music for Two, which Cage dictated was written for any combination of the 17 different instrumental 'parts without scores' provided by the composer.

Frederieke Saeijs' Linn debut has enabled her to realize her lifelong ambition to take the walk that all aspiring violin maestros do and put her personal stamp on Ysa�e's canonical Six Sonatas for Solo Violin, Op. 27. Brimming with poetry, imagination and a quicksilver energy, Saeijs playing is well suited to Ysa�e's sonatas with their thrilling dynamic pyrotechnics along with the lyrical expression that defines these pieces.

IN HARMONY WITH CLASSICAL MUSIC - Meditation Moods

Kuniko’s eagerly awaited second album includes world premiere recordings of the percussionist’s new arrangements of popular works by contemporary composers Arvo Pärt, Steve Reich, and Hywel Davies. Kuniko gave the world premiere performance of Reich’s New York Counterpoint version for marimba in 2012, and the composer praised her performance saying, “Kuniko Kato is a first rate percussionist.”

More spare, yielding chamber music is found on the new Naxos disc. The 2005 Mosaic is Carter at his most inviting, in a program showing how even his minor works have a strong reason for existence. That disc comes with a bonus DVD documentary on the composer, not the best ever made, but at least providing face time with a composer who is as congenial as he is great.

Granados, E.: Piano Music, Vol. 4 - Romantic Waltzes / Poeti

Liszt Complete Piano Music, Vol. 16: Beethoven Song Transcri

Post-minimalist John Luther Adams--not to be confused with "Nixon in China" composer John Adams--creates luminous musical worlds inspired by nature, particularly the landscapes of his adopted home, Alaska. THE PLACE WE BEGAN contains four evocative electroacoustic pieces that rework fragments of forgotten reel-to-reel tapes recorded by the Adams in the early `70s. Sculpting intriguing new soundscapes from furtive experiments in acoustic feedback and found sounds, Adams breathes new life into the material as a film documentarist would with old photographs and film footage.

Nothing and everything. Nowhere and everywhere.

Somewhere in the distance two pianos are playing. Slowly, very slowly, the sound comes towards you, and just as inevitably the sound recedes. This takes twelve and a half minutes. No development, no real movement, but no stasis either. What’s going on? Nothing and everything. Where’s the music going? Nowhere and everywhere. This sound world is our universe. It exists solely for itself. It’s electrifying.

So begins Dark Waters, the first track on this new John Luther Adams CD.

Before we go any further let’s get one thing clear, this is not the well known John Adams, the laid-back, new music guru, California-based composer of The Chairman Dances and The Transmigration of Souls, this is Meridian, Mississippi-born and, for the last thirty years, Alaska-based John Luther Adams. Starting as a rock drummer he discovered Frank Zappa, from Zappa’s notes he discovered Edgard Varèse, from Varèse’s sleeve-notes he discovered John Cage, but it was his discovery of Morton Feldman that gave him his epiphany. He studied at Cal Arts and after graduation started working in environmental protection, which took him to Alaska in 1975 where he moved permanently in 1978. If he’s known in this country at all it’s because he had a piece broadcast as part of the Masterprize competition some years ago.

Among Red Mountains, for a solo piano, is a study in clusters and opposing registers. Hard and brutal, unrelenting, yet strangely spellbinding and impossible to ignore. Just like Dark Waters, there’s no development of material as we understand the concept of development in the classical sense but this music does progress, if only in a very basic way, through repetition of the material. It’s hard to believe that there’s only two hands playing, considering the number of notes the poor pianist has to play.

Qilyuan is a duet for bass drums, and here the concept of minimal movement/maximum progress fails. Without actual pitches on which to hang our perceptions we’re left a bit at sea. And the bass drum isn’t renowned for its variety of timbre. True, it can play loud or soft, rolls can be executed, it can be hit with different sticks, but, and the percussion mafia isn’t going to like me for this, it isn’t an expressive instrument, it’s something you hit. One of the most impressive things about the other works on this disk is just how expressive they are; Dark Waters is quite beautiful in its hypnotic way. Just as Dark Waters and Among Red Mountains seem too short for their material, Qilyuan seems interminable.

Red Arc/Blue Veil, which gives the CD its title, is, in form, similar to Dark Waters. Starting quietly as a neo romantic nocturne for piano and vibraphone, it builds in intensity and volume, as the percussionist changes to crotales, and a big climax is built. Then a return to the music of the beginning, piano and vibes, gentle, restrained, beautiful. If the work has one fault it’s that there’s an overuse of the crotales – the overtones from the high frequencies over a period of time can be quite painful to listen to.

All in all, a very exciting issue from a composer who’s been working quietly and methodically for some time and he should be investigated because his music is haunting and quite unforgettable.

I assume that the performances are as good as we could ever hope for and the recorded sound is clear and very bright, oh yes, very bright indeed. There are no notes on the music, merely the names of the works and the performers, though the six sides of the “booklet” are very colourful. There are nine other CDs of Adams’s works and they are all worth investigating.

Lou Harrison called Adams "one of the few important young American composers," and he might just be right.

-- Bob Briggs, MusicWeb International