One of Lithuania' leading artistic figures, Mikalojus Konstantinas Ciurlionis pursued a career as a painter as well as a musician, seeing all art as springing from the same source.

Classical Music

Well known for his interpretations of the works of Frederic Chopin and Serge Rachmaninov, the great Argentinean pianist Nelson Goerner joins the Zig-Zag Territoires label with the piano works of Debussy.

Meditative yet propulsive. Structured yet sprawling. Gossamer yet muscular. Inspired yet meticulously constructed. METHOD MUSIC by Lawrence Ball is all of these and more, a double album of highly adventurous electronic music by a master innovator of algorithmic composition. But this album possesses a unique and illustrious lineage that, despite the clear difference in style and genre, connects it to one of the most famous works in the rock music repertoire - the ideas behind METHOD MUSIC are both the outgrowth and the foundation of the legendary LIFEHOUSE project by Pete Townshend, the conceptualize and co-producer of the album, and presents a theoretical system of musical portraiture in which a listener's personal data is translated into a unique composition.

Jill Crossland - Live at Restoration House

Penelope Crawford presents a program of four of Beethoven's most important transitional sonatas, bridging the gap between his "middle" and "late" periods. Composed against the backdrop of Napoleonic Europe and Metternich's Congress of Vienna, these four works chart Beethoven's growth as a composer in a rapidly changing world. As with her first Beethoven sonata recording (opp. 109-11), Musica Omnia MO 0308), a splendid fortepiano by the great Viennese builder, Conrad Graf, is used here, similar to one of the last pianos owned by Beethoven, also by Conrad Graf.

Louis Moreau Gottschalk was the first important American composer to fuse European classical piano music with American cultural influences, including folk music, the music of slaves, and Latin American dances. Although still revered for his anticipation of elements of Ragtime and Harlem Stride Piano, he owed his greatest musical debt to Chopin. On this recording we hear memorable and catchy tunes as well as considerable harmonic ingenuity. It includes some of his finest pieces, such as the deliciously Gallic Pasquinade, the wonderfully expressive Le Banjo and Steven Mayer’s solo piano arrangement of La Nuit des Tropiques.

REVIEWS:

Mr. Mayer brings dazzling virtuosity and playfulness to jaunty pieces like “Le Banjo: Fantaisie grotesque” and “Pasquinade: Caprice.” He also gives elegant accounts of several dreamy, refined and harmonically rich, less-heard works like "The Last Hope," a religious meditation, and the gorgeous “Reflets du passé,” a reverie.

-- New York Times

…Mayer’s transcription [is] a breathtakingly beautiful work, and in his hands a sweeping panorama of pianistic pulchritude reminiscent of the golden age of Romantic piano works by Alkan, Liszt, and Thalberg…

…[His] expert playing lends the music such charm and genuine appeal that my appetite is now whetted to hear more of it, much more, and preferably by Mayer, whose belief in Gottschalk feels absolutely sincere and is both convincing and persuasive. Very strongly recommended.

-- Fanfare

One of the pioneers of the 20th-century resurrection of interest in the harpsichord was the great virtuoso Wanda Landowska who assisted in the development of a harpsichord built by Pleyel of Paris. Performing on a 1930s Pleyel harpsichord, Christopher Lewis has chosen a program of 20th-century works by French or French-based composers. Poulenc's colourful Suite fran�aise is followed by Fran�aix's exciting and previously unrecorded Deux Pi�ces. Martinu's lyricism and intensity of expression can be heard in the Sonata and other pieces while Louis Durey's piquant Dix Inventions is both a homage to Bach's Two-Part Inventions and a work whose compositional technique is firmly rooted in the modern era.

Multi-award winner Anabel Montesinos returns to the Naxos label with the ‘graceful flexibility’ and ‘flawless technique’ (MusicWeb International) of her earlier acclaimed recital (8.557294). She has since become 1st Prize Winner at the prestigious 2010 Michele Pittaluga Guitar Competition in Alessandria. This programme is emblematic of the ‘Spanish guitar’, ranging from Pujol’s and Rodrigo’s respective Tres piezas españolas which descend from traditional folk styles, to Fernando Sor’s Variations on a Theme of Mozart, a showpiece which turns the guitar into a ‘miniature orchestra’.

Livre du Saint-Sacrement (The Book of the Blessed Sacrament) is Messiaen’s last and longest organ work, a thematic cycle based on the sacrament of Communion comprising eighteen movements, many based on his recorded improvisations, arranged into three thematic groups. Hailed for his prodigious technique, vivid interpretive imagination and charismatic showmanship, Paul Jacobs is widely acknowledged for reinvigorating the American organ scene with a fresh performance style and ‘an unbridled joy of music-making’ (Baltimore Sun). He has performed the complete organ works of Olivier Messiaen in nine-hour marathons in eight American cities.

Classical Music

The Turkish pianist Idil Biret was one of the greatest child prodigies of the 20th century. Her recital at the Boston Conservatory demonstrated that she is no less prodigious today. She played a long and demanding program with the power, concentration. 747313127177 NXS8571271.2 14507984 .00 14.99 .21 NAXOS COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL CHAMBER MUSIC & RECITALS 06/30/2009 https://media.aent-m.com/graphics/items/sdimages/a/500/2/8/2/5/1525282.jpg 4 1 N FAURE / RAVEL / HERSANT / MOZART / TRIO CERES TRIO CERES 812864018226 OEHM730.2 14554551 .00 14.99 .23 OEHMS COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL CHAMBER MUSIC & RECITALS 06/30/2009 03/02/2026 https://media.aent-m.com/graphics/items/sdimages/b/500/6/9/2/5/1525296.jpg 92 1 N DUN / AUDI / WORKMAN / CASTLE / RICHARDSON / LUNDY MARCO POLO Charles Workman, Sarah Castle, Stephen Richardson, and Nancy Allen Lundy star in this production of the Tan Dun opera with the composer conducting the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra and Cappella Amsterdam. 809478070290 BOPU7029BR 14508608 .00 42.99 .25 BBC / OPUS ARTE BLU-RAY CLASSICAL OPERA / OPERETTA / ORATORIO 06/30/2009 https://media.aent-m.com/graphics/items/sdimages/a/500/3/4/3/5/1525343.jpg 66 1 N IRELAND / ROWLANDS PIANO MUSIC 5020926311221 LYR3112.2 13809003 .00 37.99 .45 LYRITA COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL CHAMBER MUSIC & RECITALS 08/12/2008 https://media.aent-m.com/graphics/items/sdimages/a/500/0/1/9/8/3098910.jpg 7 3 N BRAHMS / WEITHAAS / AVENHAUS VIOLIN SONATAS 4260085530595 CAVM8553059.2 13809690 .00 19.99 .25 CAVI-MUSIC COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL CHAMBER MUSIC & RECITALS 08/12/2008 https://media.aent-m.com/graphics/items/sdimages/b/500/6/5/7/3/1393756.jpg 2 1 N BACH,J.S. / SCHREIER / BSO / SANDERLING GREATEST WORKS 782124842529 BLN184252.2 13834302 .00 18.99 .22 BERLIN CLASSICS COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL CHAMBER MUSIC & RECITALS 08/12/2008 https://media.aent-m.com/graphics/items/sdimages/c/500/8/7/7/3/1393778.jpg 2 2 N CRUMB / INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY ENSEMBLE COMPLETE GEORGE CRUMB EDITION 12 090404926129 BRI9261.2 13950026 .00 18.99 .25 BRIDGE COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL CHAMBER MUSIC & RECITALS 09/09/2008 https://mediacdn.aent-m.com/prod-img/500/66/1276966-2552981.jpg 2 1 N PINK TURTLE POP IN SWING 3448960250320 FRAS503.2 14908286 .00 20.99 .25 FREMEAUX & ASSOC. FR COMPACT DISCS POP JAZZ 01/12/2010 https://media.aent-m.com/graphics/items/sdimages/a/500/1/5/6/9/1389651.jpg 1 1 N KRENEK / KORZHEV PIANO SONATAS NOS. 2 & 4 811691011295 PNX129.2 13853112 .00 18.99 .21 PHOENIX EDITION COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL CHAMBER MUSIC & RECITALS 08/26/2008 https://media.aent-m.com/graphics/items/sdimages/a/500/0/4/4/2/1402440.jpg 14 1 N LIEUWEN / LARSEN / ENHAKE ENSEMBLE / RYAN GULFSTREAM: AMERICAN CHAMBER MUSIC Libby Larsen' Rodeo Queen of Heaven takes it's inspiration from religious iconography given a contemporary twist-a painting of a Madonna with gun-in a rhythmically vivacious tableau. Peter Lieuwen presents an aural portrait of the Gulfstream. 636943969229 NAAC8559692.2 16182592 .00 19.99 .20 NAXOS AMERICAN COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL ORCHESTRAL & SYMPHONIC 11/15/2011 https://media.aent-m.com/graphics/items/sdimages/c/500/7/3/2/8/1908237.jpg 3 1 N GREIG COMP ORCH WORKS Grieg: Complete Orchestral Works - This boxed set of Grieg's complete orchestral works is a celebration of the composer's rich and multifaceted aesthetic. Grieg was an idealistic humanist whose music and writings underlined a harmony between humans and nature. The sense of nostalgia and 'postcard lyricism' often associated with him belies the wild energy also present in his music-it's primeval force, pessimistic emotions and tempestuous Romanticism. Thanks to Bjarte Engeset's carefully researched and widely admired performances, Grieg's complex musical universe can here be appreciated in full. 747313801534 NXS508015.2 26374741 .00 56.99 .82 NAXOS COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL ORCHESTRAL & SYMPHONIC 05/27/2014 https://media.aent-m.com/graphics/items/sdimages/c/500/9/3/2/8/1908239.jpg 6 8 Y LISZT / BIRET 12 GRANDES ETUDES S 138: SOLO EDITION 3 Idil Biret' new Liszt album prompts a reappraisal of her extraordinary talent... in her Liszt Sonata... you will hear playing of a formidable power and assurance... There is no mistaking her lightning reflexes in the second of the Paganini Etudes and her vi.

Fernando Suarez Paz joined the Quinteto Nuevo Tango at the request of Astor Piazzolla in 1978, and he toured with the ensemble until their disbandment in 1988. In his decade of performing alongside Piazzolla, Paz recorded 18 albums all over the world. The first track on this album, Escualo by Piazzolla, is dedicated to Fernando Suarez Paz. The New York Times gave Paz a 7-star rating after his performances alongside vibraphonist Gary Burton at various jazz festivals across Europe, Japan, and the United States. Fernando’s son, Leonardo Suarez Paz is featured on this release. Leonardo grew up alongside Astor Piazzolla and was mentored by both Piazzolla and his father. He directs tango projects all over the globe, and his productions have appeared in such venues as the Lincoln Center in New York, and the Teatro Colon Opera House in Buenos Aires.

In this compilation are some of the best-known works of Chopin, including "Revolutionary Etude", the Barcarolle op. 60, the Second Sonata and the Fantaisie-Impromptu. These works offer a good overview of the genius of Chopin.

This varied anthology of contemporary pieces is a typical Innova product - tangy, oxygen rich and kaleidoscopic.

Saxophonist Timothy McAllister has put together this chamber collection in collaboration with fellow musicians.

The flickering and tapping mechnical action of McAllister's instrument is something you must acclimatise yourself to. It's part of the music. It in fact seems to have been notated into the start of the third movement of the Wanamaker scherzo in the Duo Sonata.

Caleb Burhans's solo alto sax Escape Wisconsin is Reich-like in its minimalist iterative cell repetition. It began life as a piece for two vibraphones.

Kristin Kuster's Jellyfish is for sax and Lucia Unrau's piano. In three quirkily titled sections (Medusa; Blob; Thimbles) but one track. This piece is dissonant, variously hectic and deeply and darkly dreamy.

Kati Agocs' As Biddeth Thy Tongue returns us to the solo sax. Agocs' rhapsodic dissonant, harsh and sometimes horrifying progress takes us flutteringly through fear.

Duo Sonata for sax and, its brother, the clarinet (Robert Spring) is by Gregory Wanamaker. The two instruments are Icarus twins. They fill in each others notes, fly in aerobatic formation, encourage contemplation and indulge in jazz-jamming and minimalist caprice in the Blues finale.

The symphonist Daniel Asia is for me the only big name in this group. His The Alex Set for solo sax is the second oldest piece here. Of the five movements three entitled Alex I etc are interspersed with two entitled Interlude I etc. The music is angular and rhapsodic with a dusting of minimalist manners among the Orientalisms.

GLINT by Roshanne Etezady is for clarinet and sax again. It's a vertiginous and possessed flight into an everglades of bumping and groaning noises. Then follows an ascent succeeded by helter-skelter diving and rocketing upwards.

Philippe Hurel's OPCIT (1984) is for solo sax. It is the most dissonant piece here: rippling, groaning and writhing across its four extended sections seemingly with every avant-garde effect deployed.

Lastly we have Peter Terry's RISE for sax and Lucia Unrau’s synthesised piano. The piece has a nervy and jazzy stride, a touch of pianola torque, the occasional infusion of 1920s expressionism and grand guignol.

Good liner notes. Sensible design. Will suit the broad-minded sax repertoire enthusiast.

-- Rob Barnett, MusicWeb International

York Bowen was described by Saint-Saëns as ‘the most remarkable of the young British composers’. His 24 Preludes form a sequence of concise, richly expressive and directly communicative studies. The Berceuse, Op. 83 ranks amongst Bowen’s most intimate scores, while the sophisticated Suite Mignonne demands the most delicate of touches from the pianist.

-----

REVIEW:

The exquisite Berceuse and the Barcarolle from the Op 30 Suite could hardly be given more insinuatingly, and when you hear Ortiz in the ‘Moto perpetuo’ from the Suite mignonne you will marvel at such musical empathy, backed by an immaculate dexterity. A more endearing case for Bowen would be hard to imagine.

– Gramophone

The winner of many prestigious awards for composition, Samuel Adler is also Professor emeritus at the Eastman School of Music. His Canto series was written to meet the challenge of providing concert etudes for every orchestral instrument. This program presents the complete Cantos for solo string instruments, exploring the great possibilities in each instrument from virtuoso feats to lyrical poignancy, 'moody' pensiveness to sharply observed wit and humor. The duet Close Encounters expresses ecstatic feelings of love, while the string trio Five Snapshots reflects contrasting scenes of nature. Samuel Adler's of Musique and a selection of other chamber works can be found on Naxos 8.559602. His Fifth Symphony can be heard on 8.559415.

Classical Music

This CD contains Bowles' most performed score, Night Waltz, the first of the Three Pieces for Two Pianos, which opens the CD. Rhythmically, this is a complex work of polyrhythms. It's the sort of thing he may have heard in the Tangiers streets and was written in the same year as the novel. The middle Nocturne was composed fourteen years earlier but the finale with its jazzy exoticism dates from 1976.

Bowles had been an inveterate traveller even before 1947 as the Four Piano Pieces demonstrate. The first, the rather neo-classical Impasse de Tombouchtou also refers to a dingy street in Thiviers in Southern France. Café sin Nombre and Carretera de Estapona refers to Southern Spain. Estapona, now a glamorous seaside town can almost be seen from Tangiers, and is, I recall, a pleasant boat trip away. Surrounded by a dry and desert landscape it was much more basic and village-like in Bowles’ day. The opening, with its massive chords, reminds us that it is surrounded by those startlingly blue, imposing mountains. In between these pieces is an elegant and tonally ambiguous Theseus and Maldoror inspired by Greek legend.

Bowles’ travel diaries continue with the Three Latin American Pieces. It’s Mexico which is celebrated in movement 1 with its lively rhythms (El Bejuco) and Costa Rica in 3 (Sayula). Despite their brevity these pieces attract immediately. Movement 2 (Orosi) is delicate and is succeeded by a dance-like episode reminding me of Mompou’s Canço i dansa which was also composed during the mid-1940s.

In the detailed and helpful booklet notes Andrey Kasparov describes the Sonatina Fragmentaria as having “crystalline sonorities”. The tiny middle movement is somewhat Spanish in flavor while the outer ones are more thoughtful and enigmatic. All in all, this amounts to a series of attractive mosaics.

South of Morocco, in the Atlas Mountains, is Tamanar. Views from this village inspired this austere, striking and unusually dissonant mini-tone poem. Bowles went there with Aaron Copland who had just completed his equally austere Piano Variations. Bowles discovers some intriguing sonorities. It's a great shame that he did not pursue this style very often.

The Four Miniatures are practically polytonal and pointillistic but are in Bowles’ usual light-hearted manner with Reverie having a touch of Spain about it again. The Sonatina is neo-classical, almost Poulencian. There is no sense of classical development; in other words the Germanic influence Bowles so disliked is disregarded in favour of the interconnection of fragments. The middle movement is a lyrical Andante Cantabile with a long line which reaches a strong climax.

The last seven tracks are devoted to arrangements for piano duet of miscellaneous Bowles pieces. Kasparov selected four songs, apparently quite popular, originally from 1946, all in a light jazz style and called them Blue Mountain Ballades. Gold and Fizdale took three miscellaneous pieces. The first, Colloquy Sentimental is the only surviving material from a lost Bowles ballet score. The next, Caminata again betrays a Spanish influence and is part of a ballet set in Mexico. The last, Turkey Trot is a sort of wild Scott Joplin essay and brings the CD to a zany conclusion.

This disc proved more attractive and interesting than I had expected. Although Bowles may be a better writer than a composer he certainly deserves his place in the Naxos American Classics series.

– MusicWeb International (Gary Higginson)

The performances are beautifully idiomatic, capturing the brittle character, whimsicality and subtle power of the music.

– Gapplegate Classical/Modern Music Review

Regondi's guitar compositions reflect not only his gentle nature but also the high romanticism of his period. The discovery by Matanya Ophee of 10 Etudes, previously thought to be lost, compelled a revaluation of Regondi's contribution. The two Airs Vari�s, Op.22, and Op.23, can only reinforce the new respect that ensued. Each begins with a slow introduction, followed by an Andante theme, slightly operatic in character, after which come a number of variations (four in Op.22, five in Op.23) that show off the resources of the instrument: brilliant passages of demisemiquavers (32nd notes), a minor-key tremolo, consecutive ninths and triplets.

John Duarte always composed for the most purist reason there is--the sheer love of it. Beginning in his teens as an amateur jazz guitarist, he soon began writing more classically inspired works primarily based on improvisation. Just before his 50th birthday, Duarte's "increasingly rewarding hobby" (as he puts it in the notes) made him decide to retire professionally as a scientist and devote himself to composing. Since then, Duarte has established quite a reputation in guitar circles, recieving commissions from such luminaries as Andrés Segovia and John Williams. Now an octogenarian, Duarte seems never to have lost sight of his original motive: making the appeal of his music simple. He writes completely unpretentious, accessible tunes arising from his own pleasure and offered for the pleasure of others.

While most of the selections here were composed with other guitarists in mind, Antigoni Goni's performances are thoroughly enjoyable and technically faultless. The opening Pastorale movement of the first selection, Suite Piemontese, features a lively dance riddled with counterpoint in the tradition of Tarrega (La Cartagenera instantly comes to mind). Goni's expert rendering of Duarte's triptych suite Birds is equally stunning with its sudden chromatic shifts and near-gymnastic fingering requirements. Less virtuosic though equally inspired is Duarte's Musikones, a five-movement suite featuring three Terpsichores that clearly give a melodic nod to Erik Satie's first three Gnossiennes. Here Duarte's improvisational brilliance transforms Satie's meditations into bizarre sinister dances.

As usual, Naxos' sound is excellent, with Goni's guitar amply detailed in a dry acoustic setting. Duarte's rather personable notes read like reflections, briefly outlining his life, the selections, and his overall raison d'être. Naxos' ongoing Guitar Collection series has continued to offer many outstanding recitals of works by unjustly neglected composers. Adam Holzman's recent program of Antonio Lauro's Venezuelan Waltzes, as well as Richard Cobo's first volume in what eventually will be a complete cycle of Leo Brouwer's guitar works are cases in point and should not be missed. Nor should this outstanding, very pleasurable disc.
--John Greene, ClassicsToday.com

Weiss, S.L.: Lute Sonatas, Vol. 5 - Nos. 38, 43 / Tombeau

Classical Music

Argentinian guitarist and composer Jorge Morel’s long and distinguished career has made him a legendary figure amongst guitarists, renowned as “a consummate and virtuoso artist” (Guitar Magazine) whose music is favored for its blend of colorful Latin American vibrancy and North American sophistication. From gently lyrical pieces such as the Milonga del Viento to the life-force of the dance in works such as the Giga Criolla, to the more classical Sonatina, deeply descriptive Pampero and much more besides, this program is a true reflection of the amazing variety of Morel’s creative output.

Classical Music