For more than two decades before he achieved fame and financial security as England' foremost composer, the young Edward Elgar earned a living as a violinist and violin teacher.

Holbrooke is a fascinating and important figure in British music. His Violin Sonata No. 1-also called a Sonatina-is a bright, engaging and light-hearted work that owes something to his interest in popular song.

After the Cultural Revolution, Tian's climb onto the operatic stage began with two fortuitous steps: first, his acceptance into the re-inaugural class of Beijing's newly reopened Central Conservatory, and second, his studies with the Italian baritone Gino Bechi, the first western opera star invited to teach in China. Tian, who had never seen a western opera, auditioned with a Schubert Lied, much to Bechi's chagrin. 'He said I had a nice voice, but he could only help me if I wanted to sing opera. I had no idea what that meant, but I said, "Yes, Maestro, I want to be an opera singer"'. Now a veteran of the world's most prominent opera stages, Tian has established a particularly close relationship with New York's Metropolitan Opera, where he has appeared every season since 1991. From his Met d�but as Billy Jackrabbit in La fanciulla del West ('I guess they thought I looked like an Indian', he laughs), Tian has worked his way through the company into such major roles as Oroveso in Norma, Walter in Luisa Miller and Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor. Virtually from the start of his career, however, Tian has been cast in major roles in European companies. 'There are many fine singers in China, but because it is not our culture, singing western opera is probably the most difficult job we could undertake', he says. It is a particular testament to Tian's success that, of the nearly fifty roles in his repertoire, he has often been the first Chinese performer ever to embody a particular character. 'I have chosen the arias for this recording because they are very meaningful to me personally and professionally', he says. 'They are my life and blood'.

Rare-instrument specialist Thomas Bloch is equally at home performing on the soundtrack to Milos Forman' Amadeus, with rock group Radiohead, or at La Scala, Milan or the Salzburg Festival.

The heart-on-sleeve romanticism of Bax' First Violin Sonata reflects the composer' passionate love affair with the Ukrainian girl Natalia Skarginska in the winter of 1909-1910. Bax soon replaced two of the movements, but the vibrant originals survive.

Today Carl Loewe is almost exclusively remembered as a composer of songs and ballads, many of them settings of Goethe. He wrote more than four hundred, thus challenging even his almost contemporary Franz Schubert. But he wrote a lot more: operas, oratorios and other choral works, chamber and piano music and two symphonies. Even in his lifetime his fame rested primarily on his songs - being an excellent singer he often performed them himself. Those who have heard his songs know that besides a nice melodic gift he also possessed a natural feeling for drama; his setting of Erlk�nig is worthy of a place beside Schubert's. Thus it came as no great surprise to learn that he also turned to oratorio as a means of expression.

The Rutgers Wind Ensemble here presents four engaging works rich with cross-cultural allusions by leading American composers. John Mackey' aptly named Strange Humors merges African hand-drumming, an Orientalist musical style and the big band sound.

The reputation of Johann Nepomuk Hummel-child prodigy, student of Mozart, successor of Haydn and Beethoven' rival, widely-travelled piano virtuoso, composer, conductor, influential teacher and ingenious businessman-is once more on the rise.

The distinguished Basque composer Francisco Escudero spent his life creating an exceptional and individual catalogue of works embracing almost all musical genres.

The promising young composer Antonio Jose Martinez Palacios, known in musical circles simply as Antonio Jose, was executed, a victim of the Spanish Civil War, in the same year as Federico Garcia Lorca.

Past Future-for the first time a record featuring the electric bass as solo instrument with symphony orchestra!

This release champions two relatively unknown Neapolitan composers. Mario Pilati�s style was described by musicologist Gianandrea Gavazzeni as �southern Baroque, full of songlike whims and lively impulses�, and the rhythmically vital and deeply expressive Piano Quintet of 1927�28 is one of his most important early pieces. Pianist Aldo Ciccolini was one of Achille Longo�s favorite pupils as a child, and his close association with the healthily eclectic Quintet brings a special warmth to its rich timbres and joyously refined nuances. The Circolo Artistico Ensemble specializes in the revival of the unpublished work of Italian composers.

Includes symphony(-ies) by Johann Baptist Vanhal. Ensemble: Toronto Camerata. Conductor: Kevin Mallon.

Although not one of the most recognized names in Western music, that of Spanish (or more properly Basque) composer Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga (y Balzola) (1806?1826) is far better known now than a quarter century ago. Since a revival of interest in Arriaga?s work began in the late 19th century, his compositions have consistently earned high praise from the musical cognoscienti and there has been growing certainty that his premature death just before his 20th birthday signaled not only the loss of a brilliant composer, but also a significant link in the time line of music history.


Because of his musical precocity (his first opera, Los esclavos felices , was written at the age of 11), Arriaga became known as ?The Spanish Mozart? (a posthumous title given the composer by Pascual Emilio Arietta). Arriaga?s reputation is grounded on a fistful of instrumental works (a fine symphony that has been likened to Schubert?s Fourth is among them) and the three string quartets offered here. But even though the exceptionally gifted Arriaga began to follow a musical path early in life, his musical fecundity was no match for that of the brilliant Salzburg Wunderkind.


Following initial musical studies in and around his native Bilbao, Arriaga left his native land while in his midteens to study in Paris. The three string quartets recorded here were published in 1824 under the title Premier Livre de quatours during Arriaga?s years in the French capital; at the time, he was a violin student of Pierre Baillot and a composition student of François-Joseph Fétis at the Conservatoire . Considering the fact that Arriaga was dead less than two years later, one can safely say that the quartets are from his musical maturity.


It would be difficult to imagine more assured and imaginative music flowing from the mind of anyone other than Mozart and perhaps Mendelssohn. But Arriaga?s quartets are not emulations of those of Mozart or anyone, for that matter. Arriaga?s imprimatur is visible (or audible) throughout by way of the unforced flow of his melodies, the deft and occasionally innovative handling of accompaniment, and his interest in chromaticism. The third (in E ? ) is the most technically developed and the second (in A) the most traditional. This leaves the first (in D Minor), which contains some interesting effects, including a minuet with guitar-like pizzicato effects and an Adagio section at the end that also does double duty as a bridge or introduction to the finale.


There are at least two additional recordings of these quartets, one on MDG with the Voces Quartet and the other on CRD with the Chilingirian Quartet, both modern-instrument performances. The MDG is on my shelves and is an excellent recording both musically and technically, not to mention the label?s fabled sound. This new release in the ?Spanish Classics? series from Naxos is?to my knowledge?the first on period instruments. It is a series of exceptionally drawn performances with credit going to the members of Camerata Boccherini (Massimo Spadano and Mauro Rossi, violins; David Quiggle, viola; Luigi Piovano, cello) for their readings, which are primus inter pares . There is a fine sense of flow in these brightly textured recordings and the ensemble?s exceptional sense of dialogue nicely augments the invigorating, warm, and sensitive interpretations.


FANFARE: Michael Carter

Born into the ranks of the minor nobility and as such forbidden a career as a professional musician, Karl von Ordonez nonetheless played a significant role in the musical life of his native Vienna.