More than most composers currently active, Brett Dean uses music to tackle political and social themes of our times. A common factor in the works on this recording is the sometimes problematic aspects of human communication and the erosion and misuse of language. The recording was made during a public performance of Vexations and Devotions in the framework of the BBC Proms in 2007, with David Robertson conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus and the Australian children's choir Gondwana Voices.

This is a great live recital performed by Antonio Pompa-Baldi. Pompa Baldi has more piano recordings for Centaur than any other pianist. This is an exceptional recital.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Emilia Amper, one of Sweden’s most exciting young folk musicians, is also one of the finest nyckelharpa players in the world today. (In fact, she can even boast of being a World Champion on the instrument, a title she won in 2010.) For Trollfågeln, her first solo disc, she has devised a programme which demonstrates the numerous facets of her own musical personality, and of her instrument. With its roots stretching back to medieval Europe, the nyckelharpa (‘keyed fiddle’) almost died out in the middle of the twentieth century, but has made a remarkable comeback and is attracting an increasing number of performers in Sweden and around the world. Firmly grounded in Swedish traditional music, Emilia Amper has also worked with musicians from many other backgrounds, and regards folk music as a common international language, and a way of combining tradition with spontaneous improvisation in a playful reflection of our own times. Consequently, on Trollfågeln (‘The Magic Bird’) a traditional dance tune such as Bredals Näckapolska stands next to Emilia’s own take on rock music, Kapad (‘Hijacked’). Similarly, Ut i mörka natten (‘Into the Dark Night’), a song about budding love that she’s written and composed herself, is contrasted with Herr Lager och skön fager, her setting of a poem from the late 1800s describing the sad outcome of a love affair. Solos are mixed with settings in which Emilia is joined by a string ensemble from the famous Norwegian chamber orchestra the Trondheim Soloists, or by another well-known virtuoso on the nyckelharpa, Johan Hedin, as well as by some of her regular collaborators: Anders Löfberg, Dan Svensson and Olle Linder. In turns hypnotic, melancholy and meditative, groovy and jubilant, Trollfågeln is a breathtaking roller-coaster of a disc.

Vinikour's performances are so buoyant, glistening or noble that you'll likely find yourself glued to your speakers (or headphones). And if you're accustomed to hearing the harpsichord at some distance in a concert hall, be prepared to listen as if you're standing next to the keyboard…” —Gramophone.

Playing with elegance and an innate sense of phrasing that allows lyric inventions to shine through the natural flow of the music, Mr. Vinikour achieves the distinction of offering playing that is genuinely moving.” —Joseph Newsome, Voix des Arts. The six partitas for harpsichord by Johann Sebastian Bach are among the greatest and most inspired works of all keyboard literature. Although they are the first works that Bach decided to publish, they represent the composer's genius at the height of his maturity, matched only by the Goldberg Variations.

Performed on a stunning copy of a North German instrument of Bach's time, rich and expressive, but also clear and incisive, built by Tom and Barbara Wolf, each of the partitas is a microcosm, ranging from the poetic and pastoral (no. 1, in B flat Major), to the epic and tragic (no. 6, in e minor). Bach shows himself to be playful, profound, meditative, theatrical, virtuoso - and always the greatest composer of counterpoint of all time. The six partitas represent the apotheosis not only of Bach's unique keyboard language, and the expressive possibilities of the harpsichord, but in the inherent range of colors and contrasts within the confines of a suite. To a greater extent than in the other sets of suites, each of the six partitas seems to establish its own distinct character, which is developed throughout the suite. As with the English Suites, each of the partitas opens with a prélude. However, these movements are widely varied in form as well as in mood. Although each of the the six partitas contains the standard suite movements (apart from the c minor partita, which foregoes the customary gigue in favor of a Capriccio), these movements show the most striking variety.

REVIEW:

The musical distinction gracing Jory Vinikour’s Bach Partitas should come as no surprise to listeners familiar with this sensitive and cultivated musician. For starters, he gets superb engineering courtesy of Sono Luminus’ home base studios in Boyce, Virginia. The sonics envelop Vinikour’s harpsichord (a 1995 double-manual German model by Thomas and Barbara Wolf, based on a 1738 vintage single-manual instrument by Christian Vater) within a warm, ample, and resonant ambience, with a special ring to sustained bass notes and clarity in all registers. Secondly, Vinikour’s aesthetic evokes that of his late mentor Huguette Dreyfus for its generally conservative tempos and a subtle approach to agogic phrasing that avoids the rhythmic hiccups and lurching mannerisms that we too often hear in the name of “authenticity”.

He never plays faster than one can dance or sing, as the gently ebullient Gigue finales demonstrate, while being quite generous with ornaments and embellishments on the repeats. If the A minor and G major Allemandes tend to sag under their expansive weight, the opposite is true in the D major Allemande’s gorgeously spun legato lines and sustaining power. This Partita’s opening Ouverture, incidentally, receives one of its finest performances on disc; it manages to sound weightily grandiose without sacrificing any forward sweep.

Also worth mentioning are Vinikour’s articulation of the E minor Corrente’s suspended syncopations and his opting to take the Gigue in triple rather than duple meter. Vinikour’s absorption in and commitment to these scores proves further evident in his booklet notes, which are highly informative and vividly expressed. I wouldn’t want to be without Christophe Rousset’s generally brisker pacing, the greater variety of registrations and timbres that Trevor Pinnock serves up in his Hänssler Bach Edition remake, or the late Igor Kipnis’ irrepressible sense of character. Yet Vinikour’s Partitas add up to a serious and major achievement by a serious and major artist.

-- ClassicsToday.com (Jed Distler)

This CD includes the world premiere recording of Marco Enrico Bossi complete works for piano four hands. As shown and evident in the Suite de Valses op. 93 and the transcription of the magnificent Suite for Large Orchestra op. 126, while maintaining an original mark, Bossi’s compositions for four hands seem to be inspired by Brahms and by the Hamburg chamber music transplanted in Vienna. Pianists Paolo Borganti and Giulio Giurato have used original editions and manuscripts, revising and correcting them even by comparisons of the transcriptions to the orchestral scores.

Beethoven's three most famous sonatas have received hundreds of recordings. Why another, especially from a company like Divine Art which usually avoids duplicating repertoire? Because we believe that each piece of music demands a performance tailored to the composition, and that recently, every recording of a major work seems to sound the same. Beethoven's sonatas are fiery, storm-filled works which require playing not only of consummate skill but also total passion and commitment. They receive that here, together with a piano of individual character, with a "visceral" quality (to quote Goldstone), and ideal for this music. But this CD contains two special tracks: We offer the world premiere recording of Moscheles' arrangement of the Overture to "Fidelio". And also, two alternative versions of the first movement of the "Pathetique" Sonata, one incorporating Goldstone's belief regarding the correct execution of the exposition repeat. We could not pack any more onto a disc!

This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.

That Johann Sebastian Bach as Cantor at St Thomas Church in Leipzig was expected to provide the churchgoers with suitably impressive musical performances each Sunday and Feast day is quite widely known. Fewer will be aware of the fact that the post as director of the city's Collegium Musicum, which he held from 1729, in some ways was just as demanding and time-consuming. Weekly concerts all year round – and twice-weekly during the three busy fair periods (New Year, Easter and Michaelmas) – meant that Bach during his ten years as director spent far more time performing secular instrumental music in Zimmermann's coffee house – the usual concert venue – than cantatas in church. As with his church duties, Bach will also have been expected to provide repertoire for the ensemble, composing as well as arranging music by others and himself for it. Among such works will have been his various harpsichord concertos: with Bach's great reputation as a keyboard virtuoso, it is not difficult to imagine the demand by the Leipzig audiences to see their local hero shine on the stage. Three double concertos for harpsichord by Bach survive, all dating from around 1736, and all arrangements of earlier compositions. BWV 1060 is thought to have originated as a now lost double concerto for oboe and violin, while BWV 1062 is a reworking of the well-loved concerto for two violins. Unlike these two works, BWV 1061 was composed for two harpsichords from the outset, but probably started out as a concerto without orchestral accompaniment – this will have been added later. Performing these works, with a quintet of string players from the Bach Collegium Japan, Masaaki Suzuki is joined by his son Masato. For the present disc Masato Suzuki has also taken a page from Bach’s own book, in arranging the composer’s Orchestral Suite No.1 for two unaccompanied harpsichords.

Canadian musician Laura Young became a dedicated classical guitaristat the age of nine, and has since dazzled audiences with her unique style and daring concert programs. Laura Young presents this album of works by Max Reger in honor of the 100th anniversary of the composer’s death. Young is a professor at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Having previously released recordings of Medtner's three piano concertos as well as three of Rachmaninov's five concertante works, Yevgeny Sudbin on the present disc combines solo pieces by the two friends and fellow-composers. From Sergei Rachmaninov's rich and varied production he has chosen six of the celebrated preludes, including 'Alla marcia' in G minor (Op.23 No.5) as well as the much-loved Prelude No.12 in G sharp minor from the Op.32 set. But Sudbin, who is a great admirer of Nikolai Medtner, opens his new disc with a generous selection of that composer's solo piano music. This section begins with the Prologue from Stimmungsbilder, the eighteen-year-old composer's Opus 1, and closes with Sonata tragica, composed shortly before Medtner left Russia in 1921, never to return. It also includes three of the thirty-some Fairy Tales that Medtner composed throughout his life. ‘No one tells such tales as Kolya’, Rachmaninov used to joke affectionately, and with these pieces Medtner created his own, unique genre. He himself used the Russian word skazka or German Märchen to describe them, and in his liner notes Yevgeny Sudbin suggests that the creative impulse came not only from folklore but also from such diverse sources as Push­kin, Shakespeare and even the Bible. As an interpreter of both these composers, Sudbin has proven himself both in concert and on disc, with previous recordings being named Disc of the Month in Gramophone, 'Essential Recording' in BBC Music Magazine and '10/10' on ClassicsToday.com, to mention just a few of the distinctions awarded them.

Review:

This is a wondrous disc. Sudbin seems to have an exceptional affinity with Medtner’s language. He brings both his heart and his head into play when performing these pieces. His head tackles and illuminates textures and harmonies that might seem opaque and knotty on a first study of the scores; his heart is then harnessed to convey the extraordinary sensibility, passion and thoroughly individual cast of melody that courses through the music.

Medtner’s natural companion on this disc is his intimate friend, Rachmaninov, from whose Preludes Opp 23 and 32 Sudbin draws six pieces. In all six of these preludes Sudbin deploys a luminous spectrum of timbre, a clear interpretative focus and a finely tuned imagination to encapsulate their very essence.

– Gramophone

The Chinese pianist Chen Sa (also known internationally as Sa Chen) has received much acclaim for her interpretations of composers such as Chopin, Rachmaninov and Ravel, but on the present disc she makes something of a return to her roots. In a (mostly) Chinese programme she presents a series of works – both solo and concertante – of which several deal with memories, nostalgia and the recreation of impressions. Opening with the only non-Chinese work – albeit here in a transcription for Chinese orchestra – Chen Sa takes us to Fazil Say's Anatolia, as it appears in the Turkish pianist-composer's Third Piano Concerto. A group of solo works by Chinese composers follows, with Hsiao Tyzen of Taiwan (b. 1938) and Wang Xiaohan of Beijing (b. 1980) both exploring their respective memories of home and of childhood. With Impromptu, the Australian-based Julian Yu took on the task of recreating his own improvisation into a written-out composition, while his colleague Chen Qigang, resident in France, found the inspiration for his work in the world of Chinese opera. The music of Chinese opera, in its many forms, also informs the closing work on the disc. Wang Xilin's Concerto for Piano and Orchestra received its première in 2010 from Chen Sa and the Basel Sinfonietta, but is here recorded in a version for Chinese orchestra. The concerto was conceived out of the composer's deep regret of the Cultural Revolution, which ended the careers and even the lives of so many musicians of his own generation. (Wang Xilin was born in 1937.) In the two concertos, Chen Sa receives the eminent support of the Taipei Chinese Orchestra under its chief conductor Chung Yiu-Kwong. This team has appeared on four previous releases from BIS, and has received worldwide critical acclaim for their performances, 'evoking delicate playfulness, high drama, or the tranquillity of a misty Chinese valley with equal atmosphere' (Classic FM Magazine) and 'producing a rich multihued soundscape, a vibrant rhythmic drive, and spectacular ensemble virtuosity' (American Record Guide).

The French organ tradition is one of the strongest and proudest in all of 20th-century music, to the point of forming a genre of its own. Standing on the shoulders of predecessors such as Franck and Widor and composing for instruments built in the glorious tradition of Cavaillé-Coll, a group of organist-composers created a number of works central to the organ literature; works which in spite of their great variety combine to form a highly characteristic repertoire. The young organist Pétur Sakari has gathered five such composers on his first disc for BIS, performing their music on the famous organ of Saint-Étienne-du-Mont in Paris. The five composers are all interconnected - Charles Tournemire and Louis Vierne studied together (under Franck), Maurice Duruflé studied under Tournemire and was Vierne's assistant at Notre Dame, and Marcel Dupré counted Vierne (and Widor) among his teachers and himself taught Olivier Messiaen. And although Pétur Sakari hails from Finland, he is also to an extent part of this great tradition, as the student of Thierry Escaich and Vincent Warnier, successors of Duruflé and his wife Marie-Madeleine as organists of Saint-Étienne-du-Mont. Sakari's selection brings together key works such as the hugely taxing Prelude and Fugue in B major by Dupré, Vierne's fantasy on the Bells of Westminster and Messiaen's meditative and atmospheric Celestial Banquet. The opening work on the disc is Tournemire's powerful improvisation on the Easter plain-chant Victimae paschali laudes, recorded in 1930 and later transcribed by Duruflé, whose own monumental Suite closes the recital. Throughout, Pétur Sakari - at the age of only 21 - gives proof of a mastery of the organ and a musicianship which promise great things to come. *playing the great organ of the Saint-Étienne-du-Mont Church, Paris

Classical Music

Ukrainian cellist Natalia Khoma and Russian cellist Suren Bagratuni are the featured performers on these 1998 recordings of works for Cello Duo by Couperin, Telemann, Handel and Bartók. Ms. Khoma, an internationally renowned, Moscow Conservatory trained and prize-winning cellist has distinguished herself as a recitalist and soloist with orchestras thorough the former USSR, the USA, Europe, Canada, South America, Asia South Africa and the Middle East. Mr. Bagratuni, 1986 Tchaikovsky competition Silver Medalist, is Prof. of Cello and String Area co-chair at Mich. St. Univ.

Alexandre Tansman’s fundamental style is Stravinskyan Neo-Classicism animated by the dance-rhythms of his native Poland and energized by a masterly command of counterpoint. The substantial body of music he produced for his own instrument, the piano, has never been systematically examined in recordings. This first installment presents works he wrote soon after his 1919 arrival in Paris, the city that was to remain his home – except for the years of WW II, spent in American exile. Tansman’s music is a special area of academic study and musical exploration for the American pianist Danny Zelibor.

REVIEW:

It is always surprising to be treated to first recordings written as far back as the 1920s and there are three on this disc. It was fascinating to hear them and to read the helpful notes. These highlight what to listen out for among which was an indication that there are echoes of Scriabin among others in Tansman’s experimental 7 Préludes and so there are. In fact that feeling often occurs when Tansman is at his most dreamy creating a state in which fantasy plays a strong role.

The works on this disc seem all the more impressive when one is reminded that they were written when the composer was in his twenties and had another fifty plus years of composition ahead of him. He never wasted any of those years, producing a huge volume of works. He was definitely one of those composers who ‘hit the ground running’ for these early works do not betray any struggle to find his style. His ensuing compositional life was more one of development and refinement.

I’ve always been impressed by Tansman’s works and this disc proves no exception. Danny Zelibor is obviously an enthusiast and can write authoritatively about the music he plays. He gives us compelling performances that will surely win over new fans for this thoroughly decent and principled human being and superlative composer. Toccata continues to shed new light on undeservedly obscure composers and deserve support and thanks from all music-lovers.

-- MusicWeb International

Now here's imaginative and illuminating programming for you: Bach's D minor solo partita featuring its renowned Chaconne, followed by a pair of late-Romantic violin chaconnes loosely patterened after Bach's powerful model. I like the lightness of touch, sweetly singing tone, and intimate drama characterizing Jennifer Koh's superb reading of the Bach partita. Her sound is not huge and assertive in the manner of Gregory Fulkerson and Nathan Milstein's reference versions, yet Koh's rich palette of dynamics and articulations, together with her purposeful bass lines, add variety and color to the steady tempos she favors. These qualities allow Reger's craggy lines to unfold in an unpressured manner that both complements and contrasts to Michelle Makarski's starker, bigger-boned traversal on ECM.


Richard Barth (1850-1908) was a violinist in Brahms' circle who also conducted and taught. Koh makes a thoughtful and musicianly case for Barth's skillfully-crafted and well-sustained B minor Chaconne, a work more violinists should investigate. At least its attractions now are known to one grateful critic, who expects to return time and again to this winning, beautifully engineered disc.
--Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com

Biber’s ‘Rosary Sonatas’ for violin and basso continuo stand alone in the violin literature and in music history, offering a unique combination of programmatic material and the use of scordatura (tuning a string instrument differently than the standard tuning). Consisting of fifteen sonatas for violin and basso continuo, and a closing Passacaglia for solo violin, the cycle was presented by Biber to his employer, the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, in a handsome manuscript sometime before 1687. Through the copper engravings inserted at the head of each sonata in the manuscript depicting key moments in the lives of Christ and the Virgin Mary, the music has become associated with the Catholic Mysteries of the Rosary. As the manuscript is missing its title page, the collection has become known under a variety of names: the Rosary, Mystery, Biblical or even Copper-Engraving Sonatas. The moods and emotions of this highly expressive music range from Mary's wonderment at the Annunciation to the agony of Christ in the garden of Gethsemane, the crucifixion and the subsequent resurrection, celebrated in a fantasy on the hymn Surrexit Christus hodie. Through the use of fifteen different tunings of the violin – one for each of the fifteen sonatas before the return to standard tuning in the closing Passacaglia – Biber achieves a variety of timbres, which combined with his highly imaginative treatment of the violin makes for absorbing listening. Appearing for the first time on BIS, the Greek-American violinist Ariadne Daskalakis has made a number of previous recordings, on baroque as well as modern violin. She is here supported by her fellow members in Ensemble Vintage Köln, a Cologne-based group of musicians specialized in baroque music. As a coupling to Biber's Rosary Sonatas – with a duration of almost 120 minutes – the ensemble has chosen to include the only extant violin sonata by George Muffat, Biber's colleague in the service of the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music