The Lithuanian pianist and composer Vytautas Bacevicius (1905-1970) is one of the undiscovered pioneers of the twentieth century. This second volume of his piano music presents works written between 1927 and 1966, most of them receiving their first recording here. This release shows the evolution of his musical language from the post-Scriabin style of the early works. This release takes its place in the extensive - and still growing - representation of Lithuanian music on Toccata Classics.

The birth of the classical guitar

Grammy Award-nominated cellist Antonio Meneses’ dazzling virtuosity in on display in the Suite for Solo Cello by Gaspar Cassadó, and two works by Zoltán Kodály - the Duo for Violin and Cello with violinist Claudio Cruz, and the Sonata for Solo Cello that was written in 1915. It is released in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the work.

Following the success of Capriccioso, a solo spectacular of works written by cellists for cellists, Antonio Meneses' brilliance is demonstrated again, with the rarely recorded Suite for Solo Cello by the Spanish cellist-composer Gaspar Cassadó. Alongside two early works by his Hungarian contemporary Zoltán Kodály - the Duo for Violin and Cello, with violinist Claudio Cruz, who was the conductor on Antonio's Grammy-nominated recording of the Concertos by Elgar and Gál; and the Sonata for Solo Cello, which was written in 1915 and is released in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the work.

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REVIEWS:

In Cassado's dark, sensuous Suite, inspired by Kodaly but infused with Spanish undertones, he exudes a mesmerising, Zen-like calm: tenderly shaped curlicues, ornate arabesques, and complex harmonic accompanying figurations never disturb his long, arching lines or the sense of easy, improvisational charm. You can almost forget you're listening to a virtuoso display; in his refreshingly self-effacing, idiomatic approach musical substance is always to the fore.

– BBC Music Magazine

Meneses gives a performance that has been crafted down to the tiniest detail, the swirling finale in particular confident and polished, with every technical trick in the cellist's book pulled off with panache.

– Gramophone

Gronau: Chorale Variations for Organ, Composer Daniel Magnus Gronau, Artist Matteo Venturini organ, Format 1 CD, "The finest musical soul ever to have graced the city of Danzig": these are the words of Friedrich Gottlieb Gleimann, written in regard to his predecessor Daniel Magnus Gronau. Little is known about Gronau's life, other than he was titular organist at St John's Church in Danzig - where he earned an exceptionally high salary: 100 florins per quarter. His music was highly acclaimed in it's day; after his death, the Chapter of St John's bought the manuscript of a cycle of chorale variations for organ from his sister, paying a third as much again to have it handsomely bound in two volumes. Gronau left a small treatise on transposition and four books of keyboard music, the Chorale Variations of which form the subject of this engaging release. Similarly structured and containing between two and five variations (the first of which normally utilizes the chorale as a fugue subject), the works reveal the far more 'modern' approach adopted by Gronau in relation to the rest of his northern contemporaries - Es wird schier der letzte Tag, for example, requires the right hand to play on two keyboards against a continuo-like accompaniment in the left hand and pedals. The Variations certainly represent one of the most extensive compendiums of organ registrations to survive from the late Baroque period of organ music in Germany, and on hand to perform is Matteo Venturini, winner of no less than eight competitions and a regular at prestigious international music festivals across Europe and America. Venturini, with his thesis on Gronau's organ music, is clearly an expert in this field of repertoire; here, on his 13th recording, he reveals the sheer quality of this composer's music, making a strong case for why the Danzig genius is worthy of rediscovery and re-evaluation. First recordings, Recorded on 19, 20 & 22 May 2013, Church of San Rocco, Larciano (Pistoia), Italy. This CD contains the first recording of the complete Chorale Variations by Daniel Magnus Gronau, a master from 17th century Danzig. He wrote a treatise on transposition, and the Chorale Variations form one of the most extensive compendiums of organ registrations of late Baroque organ music in Germany. Organist Matteo Venturini is a winner of no less than 8 prestigious organ competitions. He wrote a thesis on the organ music of Gronau. He plays on a magnificent Ghilardi Organ in the Church of San Rocco, Larciano.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Russian-born American composer Ornstein (1893–2002) lived long enough – an astonishing 109 years – to see his music fall into and re-emerge from obscurity. His earliest surviving work dates from around 1905; his last was composed in 1990. Not surprisingly, his music embraces a range of styles, from atmospheric impressionism to fiery virtuosity to the Rachmaninov-like Romanticism.

REVIEW:

By turns savage, tender, crushingly dissonant, and ravishingly lyrical, the piano music of Russian emigre Leo Ornstein is astonishing in its inventiveness and inspiration. Ornstein lived to be 109 years old, composing from 1905 until 1990, and experimented with every conceivable style, introducing tone clusters into the concert hall as a virtuoso pianist, garnering a reputation as a Futurist even as he wrote limpid song-like pieces that might pass for early Scriabin or Rachmaninoff.

One of the great originals, Ornstein represented no school or dogma; an unwavering intensity and poetry were his only constants. If you have never heard this complex, multi-layered, entertainingly colorful music, grab this well-filled CD, Part I of a welcome series. Pianist Arsentiy Kharitonov emphasizes Ornstein’s Russianess, splashing the Cossack Impressions, Sonata 4, 4 Impromptus, and ‘In the Country’ with lavish colors. It’s certainly a valid approach and is well served by the richsounding recording.

-- American Record Guide

Classical Music

The 19th century was a significant time for both opera and the guitar. Opera was everywhere, and its characteristics gradually began to appear in other styles of music as composers tried to encapsulate the expressiveness and flexibility of the voice into their works. At the same time, the guitar underwent major changes in construction; this disc showcases pieces that combine these two major elements of 19th? century music, all of which are played by Roch Modrzejewski – praised in Les Cahiers de la Guitare as an ‘extraordinary, demanding, gifted and clever guitarist’.

The collection begins with Coste’s light and lively interpretations of Bellini’s Norma and Il pirata, followed by Legnani’s Cavatina from Ernani by Verdi, a simple piece that makes full use of all facets of the guitar. Then come the variations on a theme of Rossini’s Otello, by the immensely important guitarist Giuliani, who shows off his skill by combining simple, natural harmonisation and texture at the outset and a brilliant vitality and vigour in the final section. Bobrowicz was known to his contemporaries as the ‘Chopin of the guitar’, and his variations on Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi display a romantic nostalgia and a regal finale. Mertz explores all sound colours of the guitar in the beautiful Marino Faliero after Donizetti, and the collection ends with the Variations on an air from Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi by Regondi: a work full of innovative modulations and rich texture which transcended the boundaries of 19th?century guitar composition.

OTHER INFORMATION:
* Recordedin2012,Krakow.
* Contains notes on the works by the artist.
* Contains first recordings (Nepomuk de Brobowicz’s Variations and Polonaise on a duet from I Capulati e I Montecchi Op.30; Mertz’s Marino Faliero from Opern?Revue Op.8).

Classical Music

On this CD, the Swiss guitarist Roland Müller has brought together works for the guitar that are particularly popular and frequently requested in concert. The origins of the composers represented here illustrates the global relevance of the guitar, which is equally significant in the works of composers in Europe as it is in Latin America and Asia.

Any list of the most famous composers for the guitar would certainly include the Cuban Leo Brouwer, whose melancholy “Un dia di noviembre” can be heard here. Other sounds from the South American continent come from Jorge Gomez Crespo and Adrian Patiño.

Carlo Domenico, Enrique Granados, Fernando Sor and Roland Dyens represent the musical tradition of old Europe. The piece “Sakura” by Yuquijiro Yocoh introduces the colors of Japan to this varied program. Roland Mueller studied with Jury Clormann in Winterthur, Karl Scheit in Vienna and Sonja Prunnbauer in Freiburg. He performs concerts in many countries in Europe and in North America and gives master classes in the USA and Europe.

This release is the third and final installment in the critically-acclaimed recording of the complete Piano Sonatas of Sergei Prokofiev by pianist Peter Donohoe. This album is dedicated entirely to the ‘War Trilogy,’ which are three piano sonatas that Prokofiev composed consecutively during World War II. The pieces show the horrors and reflections of what Soviet Russia referred to as the “Great Patriotic War.” The central sonata in the trilogy, No. 7, is regarded by many as his most famous and brilliant piano work. The finale of the piece depicts the grit and ferocity of the Russian attacks on the Nazi army. Peter Donohoe has long been a masterful interpreter of Russian music. He first recorded the Seventh Sonata in 1982, then again in 1991. “Prokofiev was creating these major works throughout his career- all of them are major and some are still underrated and I am delighted to have had the chance of recording the complete cycle at last.” (Peter Donohoe)

With the talent of young pianist Cassandra Wyss, this Wilhelm Stenhammar and Jean Sibelius compilation emerges as a gateway into the world of Nordic musical gems. With her artistic courage to be stubborn – to be understood in the spirit of Hermann Hesse – namely to select precisely those works that suit her as a pianist, Ms. Wyss enables the careful listener to take a new and very personal view of the rich repertoire of Scandinavian music. “... she plays with a smile. Charm is a critical element of this music, and Wyss conveys that winningly“ - Fanfare on Stenhammar CD (C5117)

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Enrique Granados is today best remembered for his Goyescas suite for solo piano, inspired by the art and times of Francisco de Goya. Granados first came under the spell of Goya in 1896 while viewing an exhibition of his works. In particular, the bohemian characters of the majo and maja that had captivated Goya came to dominate the highly romanticized image of old Madrid embraced by Granados. Although the inspiration from Goya is readily acknowledged it is only two of the six pieces that make up Goyescas that can be related to specific works by the painter: No.1 Los requiebros (The Flirtations) and No.5 El amor y la muerte (Love and Death) were both inspired by etchings from the celebrated series of Caprichos. Another image by Goya, of four young girls playing with a life-sized puppet made of straw, formed the inspiration for El pelele (The straw man), which Granados composed after the suite and gave the subtitle ‘escena goyesca’.

Performing these wonderfully sensuous works is the Dutch pianist Joop Celis, who here makes his first appearance on BIS, but who has earned plaudits for previous recordings, for instance in International Record Reviewer: ‘He dispatches the heroic and virtuosic with ease, yet his playing displays a great sensitivity to the more romantic side…’ On this well-filled disc, Celis also includes Granados’s collection of seven ‘Poetic scenes’ as well as the brief Intermezzo which Granados composed for his opera Goyescas, a work in one act otherwise based on the music from the suite for piano. The opera was premièred in New York in 1916, and it was on his journey home to Spain that Granados died, when the ship he was travelling on was torpedoed in the English Channel.

Review:

Celis unsurprisingly navigates Granados's labyrinthine textures with no sweat and strain, and with a beautiful, evenly modulated sonority to boot…interestingly, the relatively modest technical and musical parameters of Escenas poeticas elicit more consistently inspired and organically poetic playing…in short, Goyescas may get star billing, yet the Escenas poeticas walk away with top honors.

– Gramophone

Classical Music

Paul Badura-Skoda is not only a world renowned pianist, but is also a Schubert expert. For this release, Badura-Skoda presents Schubert’s Sonata in D major D 850 “Gastein Sonata”, and 3 Klavierstucke D 946. This is Badura-Skoda’s 13th CD with GENUIN.

Classical Music

I hope that Anton Kuerti's 2003 remakes of Beethoven's last three sonatas will spur him on to re-record the other 29, for these new versions are infinitely superior to his 1974/75 recordings. The pianist remains thoroughly devoted to microscopic detail and grand clarification, but his compulsive drive and raspy surface style have considerably mellowed, while his soft playing has gained body and luminescence. To sample Kuerti's newly found serenity and flow in this music, listen to his spacious parsing of Op. 109's rhapsodic introductory movement and to his patiently unfolding trills in that sonata's third movement variations and in Op. 111's Arietta, and notice how he builds Op. 110's long-lined Adagio ma non troppo from the bottom up. His rubatos in the latter sonata's Fugue no longer seem artificially tacked on but rather are organically integrated into the music's visionary path. His basic measured tempos for Op. 111, once static and fussy, now emerge as all of one piece. It goes without saying that these works are amply served via recordings from Schnabel to Serkin and Kempff to Kempf, with Hungerford, Goode, Pollini, and Richter for good measure. To this august roster we easily can add the veteran Kuerti. [4/6/2004] --Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com

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Classical Music

Classical Music

This CD documents a ten-year productive friendship between a composer and a performer. Many of Matthews’ quartets were written for the Kreutzer Quartet, and they’ve recorded two previous CDs of his complete cycle of music. This release features all world premiere recordings.

REVIEW:

Finally, there comes Hopeful Monsters of 2011 for string orchestra (the orchestra includes the members of the Quartet). Commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street (a day in 1936 when, in East London, crowds gathered to protest against fascism), it is a fascinating canvas that includes references to Jewish music in its faster section. The title is borrowed from Nicholas Mosley and refers to biological mutations that hover on extinction. Lee Hallman’s exemplary booklet notes suggest this is reflected in Rose’s use of harmony, with its clear tonal references that it just as often seeks to negate—or at least toy with.

All pieces here receive their first recordings, and the disc was made in the presence of the composer. Unhesitatingly recommended.

-- Fanfare

Popular Chinese Piano Pieces: Scenes from China & Music of W

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