Recording information: Church of the Ascension and Saint Agnes, Washington, D. (11/09/2008); Church of the Ascension and Saint Agnes, Washington, D. (11/28/2008).

Classical Music

'Ring in the Holidays' with the joyous sounds of Christmas performed on the world's largest range of handbells. The Westminster Concert Handbell Choir is one if America's leading handbell ensemble and has appeared on the Today Show, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood and the broadcast of the Christmas Tree Lighting at Rockefeller Center. Merry Christmas to All!

In 1891 Symbolist poet Stéphane Mallarmé asked Debussy to compose incidental music for a theatrical version of his poem L’Après-midi d’un faune (The afternoon of the faun) and the resulting work, with its innovative melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic writing, is both impassioned and expressive. The four-hand arrangement was made by Ravel in 1910. Subtitled “esquisses symphoniques” – or symphonic sketches – La Mer, inspired by the natural phenomena of water, light and wind, is a masterpiece that doesn’t conform to structural convention. Of the evocatively enchanting Images, he wrote that it marked a departure for him, dealing with “realities” not impressionism.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Hindemith's music for cello closely follows his evolution as a composer. With elements that look back to Schumann, Three Pieces, Op. 8 is among his earliest published works, while the solo Sonata, Op. 25 is indebted to Bach's Cello Suites and is one of the most intense and demanding of his chamber works. The ingenious variations on a frog he went a-courting are lighter in nature, contrasting with the weighty depths of the Sonata for Cello and Piano. Sebastien Hurtaud was first prize winner at the Adam International Cello Competition in 2009.

In his piano transcriptions of harpsichord sonatas principally by Scarlatti, Granados tackled the task of presenting virtually unknown works to a contemporary public.

Bach composed these and other famous works, including the Brandenburg Concerti and the Cello Suites, during his Capellmeister years in Anhalt-Cöthen, Saxony, 1717-23. Violinist Hélène Schmitt, a fixture on European stages, mostly plays the solo violin repertoire of the 17th - early 19th century. She shows a special interest in and affinity for Italian and German music and culture. The international critics always receive her concerts and recordings enthusiastically.

This recording was inspired by David Evans’ reconstruction of a Thuringian harpsichord, c.1715, and a desire to find appropriate repertoire. These performances explore the musical heritage of Bach and Handel and recreate the harpsichord sound they and their contemporaries may have heard. The Thuringian in question is a unique instrument, fundamentally different in sound and touch from typical 18th c. harpsichords of the German, Franco-Flemish or ‘International’ schools. Much evidence exists to suggest both Bach and Handel would have been well acquainted with this style of instrument.

This recording presents the chorale variations for solo viola da gamba by an anonymous 17th-century master, collected in the so-called Berlin Gamba Book. Only the initials of the arranger - 'J.R.' - are known, but this was clearly someone of passion and discernment who transformed hymns into instrumental music which preserves the solemnity and gravitas of the originals. Dietmar Berger's recording of the Manchester Gamba Book (8.572863-64) was acclaimed as 'a considerable achievement by any standard' (Gramophone).

Classical Music

Classical Music

Rodrigo’s music for solo guitar is not extensive but represents an important pillar of the repertoire, ranging from vignettes to sonatas over a six-decade period. The 1933 Toccata was rediscovered in 2005 and has since provided an ambitiously virtuosic vehicle for today’s guitarists. Rodrigo flecked his works with elements of fantasy, flamenco and bird song while Un tiempo fue Itálica famosa, one of his very greatest works in the genre, is superbly impassioned. The tender Pastoral, originally for piano, is here transcribed for guitar by Jérémy Jouve whose first volume in this series (8.570286) received a three-star review (“The young French guitarist plays brilliantly”) in the Penguin Guide.

The best of instrumental Eternal Organ accompanied by Aurora Duo under the direction of Schaab-Gottschalg bring such classics as Amadeus' Andante in F Major, K. 616 and Bach's, Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 565 to life.

Incomparable composer and pianist John McCabe, who passed away in February 2015, had recorded Nielsen's Piano Music on LP for Decca's Ace of Diamonds back in 1975. More recently, the SOMM label was approached by John's wife, Monica McCabe, to ask if they would consider issuing it on CD. From an early age, John loved to explore little-known works and considered Nielsen's Suite, Op. 45 a true masterpiece. The piano music of Nielsen, whose 150th anniversary is celebrated this year, is overshadowed by his six symphonies but his piano music has always had a special place in the hearts of music lovers worldwide. These recordings have been unavailable for many years; now newly re-mastered, they are given a new lease on life and serve as a timely reminder of McCabe's unique interpretations.

It is always good to welcome to our company a musician of the stature of Burkard Schliessmann, and also to present our first multichannel SACD in luxury packaging.

This album demonstrates once again the sheer genius of Bach but also the individual and highly considered interpretative style of the performer. Schliessmann is not a purist demanding rigid tempi and 'traditional' baroque styling but recognises the inner soul of the music and brings it to life in a new way - thus this recording will be welcomed as a new approach even to those who know the works very well.

Also a special inclusion on the disc is BWV 906, which Bach left as a Fantasia and an unfinished Fugue. The Fugue was completed by Busoni who also inserted the Adagio, BWV 968, which was arranged for piano either by one of Bach's sons or by the publisher Altnickol. It makes for a highly rewarding complete work.

The “Livre du Saint Sacrement” is a summation of Messiaen’s musical and theological persona, a statement of faith and a profound summary of his entire organ “oeuvres.” In this work he employs the significant compositional techniques of his life’s work as an organ composer: modes of limited transposition as the basis for his harmonies, Hindu rhythms, Greek rhythms, plainsong, birdsong, “communicable language,” and serialism. As always these compositional elements are used to explore the mysteries of Christian faith, in this, his most massive work. Born in Avignon to Pierre Messiaen, a Shakespeare scholar, and the poet Cecile Sauvage, Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) exhibited a rare musical talent from an early age. He was admitted to the Paris Conservatory at age eleven, where he won five First Prizes- notably in classes with Marcel Dupre, Maurice Emmanuel, and Paul Dukas. In 1930, he was appointed Organiste Titulaire of Sainte Trinite Church in Paris, a position he held until the early 1970s. At the outbreak of WWII, he became a French army hospital attendance, and in 1941 was taken prisoner and held in a POW camp in Silesia (where he composed Quartet for the End of Time). Upon his repatriation in 1942, he was appointed professor of harmony at the Paris Conservatory. During his lifetime, Messiaen was famed as an organist and pianist and frequently performed his own difficult compositions in concerts around the world. Colin Andrews is an internationally famous concert artist, with extensive experience in the music of Messiaen. One of only four organists to have recorded Messiaen’s complete organ works, Andrews was recently named “Membre d’Honneur” of the Association Grand Orgue Trinite Messiaen, based at Messiaen’s church in Paris.

MCKAY: Suite for Viola and Piano / My Tahoe Window / An Apri

Classical Music

Classical Music

Drawn from different parts of Tcherepnin's life, the Entretiens display distinct cinematic qualities. With their exhaustive range of expression the Twelve Preludes vividly demonstrate the multi-faceted genius of their composer. The Romances contrast tenderness and warmth with unsettling moods and the Five Concert Etudes show an infatuation with all things Chinese.

Collectors familiar with Trudelies Leonhardt’s previous Beethoven releases on the Globe and Meridian labels will know what to expect here. As before, she uses a Viennese Benignus Seidner model fortepiano dating from 1815. Its low notes have a warm, slightly nasal timbre, with an attractive singing quality to the middle and high registers that contrasts to the jangly sonorities we sometimes hear from other instruments from that period, such as the Graf fortepiano. Leonhardt’s genial performing style evokes the intimacy and spontaneous inflections typical of Wilhelm Kempff and Wilhelm Backhaus in their later years.

She takes the two Op. 49 sonatas’ modest dimensions on their own terms, projecting the melodies in natural, conversational arcs. Leonhardt’s tempo for the G major Op. 14 No. 1 first movement is more of a Moderato than the Allegro that Beethoven specifies, and we might wish for more rhythmic backbone in the development section, or a brusquer attack to the Andante’s soft staccato chords. By contrast, Leonhardt brings out the Allegro assai finale’s sense of surprise in her sophisticated timing of the ascending scales and rests.

Also note the uncommonly clear left-hand passagework in Leonhardt’s expansive and well-proportioned Op. 110 sonata opening movement. Her little luftpauses at phrase ends disrupt the rhythmic flow of the Allegro molto movement’s main theme. The expressive eloquence informing the third movement’s ”Klagender Gesang” best illustrates Leonhardt’s seasoned musicianship, although she doesn’t match Peter Serkin and Ronald Brautigam for virtuosic momentum in the fugue’s climax. The booklet includes an extensive essay about the Seidner fortepiano and excellent musical annotations.

-- Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com

Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849) was born in the village of Zelazowa Wola in Mazovia, the son of a French father and a Polish mother. This mixed heritage would weave like a double helix through Chopin's career as a composer-pianist. Following studies at Warsaw Conservatory (1826-29) and 've given concerts in Warsaw and Vienna (1829-30), Chopin settled in Paris in 1831. His most famous romantic liaison was with Aurore Dude Vant (aka novelist George Sand), the years 1838- 1847 coinciding with his most productive period. Their relationship ended shortly after, Chopin visited Britain in 1848, where his already precarious health Deteriorated. Almost 3,000 people attended his funeral the following year at the Madelaine in Paris though he Remained a Polish patriot Throughout his short life, he Became a French citizen. Although educated in the tradition of Beethoven, Haydn, Mozart and Clementi, and a great admirer of Bach, his music includes works based on both French and Polish models, as well as some innovations. Among the former May be Counted his piano sonatas; Bach's counterpoint found it's way (albeit metamorphosed) into his own multilayered music; his many Viennese Waltzes are more Parisian than; Polonaises and Mazurkas raised his thesis Polish dance forms to Unprecedented Heights or artistic achievement. Similarly, he transformed, the Nocturne, Initially popularized by the Irish-born Russian-based John Field, into a form much more Closely associated with himself. His Ballades, Preludes and Etudes were path-breaking and immensely influential. Two piano concertos, some songs and chamber works aside, he composed Exclusively for the solo piano and preferred to perform at salons privately rather than in public concerts.

Among Bach’s organ works none are more purely enjoyable to listen to or embody the spirit, the voice(s), the vitality inherent in the instrument more than the six Trio Sonatas. Although I prefer the somewhat brighter, “flutier” sound and generally quicker tempos of Lionel Rogg, who performs on the historic Silbermann organ at Arlesheim, Switzerland (Harmonia Mundi), Robert Quinney (currently the sub-organist at Westminster Abbey) gives solid and informed interpretations of these formidably difficult works. (Apparently Albert Schweitzer—who as an organist and Bach scholar certainly knew his Bach and his organ works—is said to have claimed that anyone who masters the trio sonatas has achieved the height of technical virtuosity. If you can find it, there’s a wonderful old EMI recording of Schweitzer playing Bach—no trio sonatas, however!)

Quinney performs on the Frobenius organ of Oxford’s Queen’s College, in Quinney’s words not a “historically accurate instrument for Bach”, but nevertheless possessing “exquisite voicing, superb mechanical action, and modest size.” Quinney employs these features mostly very effectively, especially in the last two sonatas, where both the playing and registration choices are freer and more imaginative. Quinney’s performance of the C major sonata most thrillingly captures those traits mentioned above—vitality, spirit, and pure enjoyment. In other places—the opening E-flat sonata, the first movement of the D minor, most of the slow movements—tempos just seem too slow, the registration choices too “plain”. The E-flat sonata is one of the most exuberant creations in the organ repertoire, but here that joyful edge is off. Overall, however, Quinney must be commended—and should be listened to—for his impressive technique and his mostly successful management of Bach's particular demands regarding time and space (Schweitzer--and Einstein--would have approved!), captured in excellent sound (never an easy thing with organs and organ venues).

-- David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com