Beethoven’s letters show an extensive and prolonged correspondence with Scottish publisher and keen amateur musician George Thomson, who made it his task to collect and publish folk song settings, commissioning the likes of Pleyel, Koželuch and Haydn. The Opp. 105 and 107 collections, written for piano with optional flute or violin parts, are filled with delightfully decorative but virtuoso writing. This recording offers versions with improvisation and ornamentation by flutist, conductor and former Rampal student Patrick Gallois, based on the performance practices of the early 18th c.

This second and final volume of Frederic Mompou's complete songs features the cycle Becquerianas, one of his most ambitious and also one of his most diverse, with it's unprecedented fusion of Andalusian folk-music, virtuosic piano writing and vocal opulence. Comptines, by comparison, are joyful and simple traditional children's counting rhymes. Also included are five recently discovered songs: Et sento que v�ns, Ets l'infinit, El testament d'Am�lia, Ave Mar�a and El viaje definitivo. '... an enticing first offering in a welcome series, and the performers are warmly to be applauded' (Fanfare on Volume 1 / 8.573099).

The contemporary wind ensemble’s expanded and redefined identity now offers composers a far broader sonic canvas. Each work heard on this recording reflects this new image, none more so than Stephen Michael Gryc’s Concerto for Winds and Percussion, which demonstrates The Hartt School Wind Ensemble’s brilliant technique and wide range of expression. Susan Botti’s Terra Cruda explores the innate behavior and repercussions of aggression, while Jess Turner’s Rumpelstilzchen depicts different parts of the famous fairy story, from the maiden’s sorrow to the creepy little gnome’s fury.

A native of Luxembourg, Lou Koster was largely self-taught as a composer, flourishing in the interwar period as a pianist whose activities included accompanying silent films. Orchestrated from piano originals, pieces such as Lore-Lore and Moseltr�ume were radio hits in the 1930s, and Koster became renowned for subtle, sensuous light music filled with unexpected turns and emotional nuances.

Franz Ignaz Beck is increasingly acknowledged as one of the most forward-looking and inventive of mid-18th c. symphonists. A student of the celebrated Johann Stamitz, Beck was trained in Mannheim, a focal point of new approaches to orchestral writing. Although small in scale, his Op. 2 set includes some of the most striking and harmonically daring works of their kind from the period. Further Beck Symphonies may be heard on Naxos 8.553790, 8.554071, 8.570799, 8.573248 and 8.573249. Founded in 1976, Thirteen Strings is one of Canada’s leading chamber orchestras. Its repertoire is diverse, covering music from the baroque era to the 21st c. The Irish conductor Kevin Mallon became concertmaster with Le Concert Spirituel and Les Arts Florissants in Paris and led and directed The Irish Baroque Orchestra before moving to Canada to take up posts with Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and the University of Toronto. In 1999 he founded the Aradia Ensemble, with whom he has toured widely and has made over 50 recordings for Naxos. In 2010 Mallon was appointed Music Director of Ottawa’s Thirteen Strings Chamber Orchestra.

VERDI: OVERTURES & OPERA CHOIR

Manuel Ponce is considered by numerous scholars to be the founding father of modern Mexican music. He devoted himself to composing for guitar after meeting Andres Segovia in 1923. Sonatina Meridional is reminiscent and lyrical, and is his response to Segovia’s appeal for a work “of purely Spanish character.” The two versions of Theme varie et Finale are recorded for the first time together on this album. The Andante that is also featured is from a manuscript that was lost in the Spanish Civil War. His final work for guitar, Variations on a Theme of Cabezon, is also featured.

Alessandro Scarlatti was largely responsible for developing early Neapolitan opera but his son Domenico Journeyed to Lisbon and then to Madrid where he entered the service of the royal family. It was primarily for the Infanta Maria Barbara, who became Queen of Spain in 1746, that Domenico Scarlatti wrote his celebrated single-movement sonatas, some of the greatest pieces in eighteenth-century keyboard repertoire. This volume reveals Scarlatti’s evocations of Spanish dance rhythms, vivid exploration of color, scintillating scales and arpeggios and striking echo effects. Goran Filipec was born in Rijeka in 1981 and showed considerable early musical talent. After completing his studies in Croatia at the Academy Ino Mirkovich he continued at the Cologne Musikhochschule, the Moscow Tchaikovsky State Conservatory and at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. His concert performances have led him to some of the most prestigious concert halls of Europe, including the Auditorium di Milano, The Mariinsky Theatre, the Budapest Bela Bartok National Concert Hall, and the Theatre du Chatelet, Paris. He is a laureate of several international piano competitions, including the Concorso Internzionale Franz Liszt- Premio Mario Zanfi (Italy), the Concurso de Piano Parnassos (Mexico), the Jose Iturbi International Music Competition (USA) and the Gabala International Piano Competition (Azerbaijan). His Naxos recording of Liszt’s Paganini Studies was awarded the Grand Prix du Disque of the Budapest Ferenc Liszt Society, previous winners of which have included Vladimir Horowitz, Gyorgy Cziffra, Alfred Brendel, Claudio Arrau, Zoltan Kocsis and Maurizio Pollini.

WEINBERG Symphony No. 12. The Golden Key: Ballet Suite No. 4 • Vladimir Lande, cond; St. Petersburg St SO • NAXOS 8.573085 (75: 40)


I have been at least mildly enthusiastic about Lande’s previous Weinberg discs for Naxos (Symphony No. 6 on 8.572779 and Symphony No. 19 on 8.572752) and this one is as good, if not better. This is not the first recording of Weinberg’s Symphony No. 12—Maxim Shostakovich had that privilege—but it appears to be the only one available on CD, and the coupling, which is very different in tone, and a nice complement to the symphony, is as enjoyable as it is generous.


Weinberg’s Symphony No. 12 “In Memoriam D. Shostakovich” was composed in 1976, a year after Shostakovich’s death. Many of Weinberg’s works are stylistically similar to Shostakovich’s. This is not surprising, as Shostakovich was a friend and mentor to Weinberg, almost from the time that the latter arrived in the Soviet Union after fleeing his native Poland. This symphony is particularly Shostakovich-like. Although it is “in memoriam,” it is not funereal in tone. In fact, like many of Shostakovich’s works, it displays an emotional ambiguity that encourages a number of interpretations from performers and from listeners alike. Shostakovich’s “Leningrad” Symphony appears to have been an especially strong source of inspiration, but the work’s structure—for example, the epic first movement—is more reminiscent of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10. The D-S-C-H (D-E?-C-B) monogram even makes several subtle appearances. The symphony’s themes are distinctive, and Weinberg is a surefooted musical architect. Another similarity with Shostakovich is his ear for unusual scoring, and his always interesting and sometimes grotesque use of wind instruments at the extremes of their register. No one hearing this symphony for the first time will miss its connections with Shostakovich. Weinberg is not an imitator, however, any more than Telemann imitated Bach.


The Golden Key is a ballet from 1955 based on a story by Aleksey Tolstoy. The lead character, Burattino, is a puppet, and the eponymous golden key allows its bearer to enter the country of Happiness. In addition to puppets, there are various animal characters as well. On one level, this is an innocent ballet—even a children’s ballet—but its themes of rebellion and idealism also suggest a deeper and even socio-political interpretation. Shostakovich’s ballet scores have their moments of excellence as well as moments of more workmanlike writing. The Golden Key , from what I have heard of it, is at least on their level. The first three suites were recorded by Mark Ermler with the Bolshoi Theater Orchestra—Olympia OCD 473, if you can find it. That disc also included excerpts from the Fourth Suite. In other words, all four suites have been recorded. Taken together, they add up to about 85 minutes of music, so I am wondering if all of the ballet’s music was used in one of the four suites.


As on the previous CDs, Lande and the St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra are very satisfactory. Certainly one can imagine more assertive conducting and a richer sounding orchestra, but I don’t think anyone will be unhappy with these performances. In fact, I would say that this is an improvement from the earlier recordings, particularly that of the Symphony No. 6, but that’s one Weinberg symphony in which there was more competition. If you’re interested in Shostakovich, or in music from the Soviet Union in general, there is absolutely no reason not to give this fine new CD a try.


FANFARE: Raymond Tuttle

Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco was Jewish by culture but regularly composed on Biblical themes. A meditation on stories from the New Testament in music of tender simplicity, moving lyricism and potent drama, the epic but rarely-heard Evangélion starts with The Annunciation and concludes with The Last Words and The Resurrection. Composed in 1947 soon after the death of the composer’s father, the work was possibly conceived after a visit to the Acolman Convent in Mexico. This is its first complete recording. Alessandro Marangoni can also be heard in Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s two Piano Concertos [8.572823], described as a “delectable treat” by Gramophone.

Much decorated by his native country, António Pinho Vargas, originally best known for his jazz performances, is now one of Portugal’s leading classical composers. His instrumental and film music has won numerous awards, and his chamber works have been performed by some of the world’s leading ensembles. In turning to the sacred, Pinho Vargas has crafted music of moving declamatory power. He has organized Judas into five specific scenes with an epilogue, whilst the Requiem is a very personal and powerful reply, in the composer’s words, ‘to a history of numerous works of the past’.

Spanish - and Catalan music in particular - was hugely enriched by the contribution made to it's development in the latter part of the 20th century by Xavier Montsalvatge. Both as a composer and critic, his influence was widespread and his music stylistically broad. Folia daliniana explores elements of fantasy and French-tinged refinement whilst one of his major song cycles, Cinco invocaciones al Crucificado, is a passionately intense meditation on Christ's suffering. Whether rhapsodic or invoking rhythmic or popular dance forms, Montsalvatge's music remains brilliant, clear and individualistic.

Vytautas Bacevicius Remained Virtually Unknown As a Composer During His Lifetime, in Contrast to the Fortunes of His Sister Graz?Yna Bacewicz, Who Retained Her Polish Nationality. Rendered Stateless By the Outbreak of WWII While on Tour As a Concert Pianist in Argentina, He Eventually Settled in New York Until His Death in 1970, Giving Acclaimed Piano Recitals, Teaching, and Writing Astoundingly Original Orchestral Scores. He Never Lost His Deep Allegiance to and Nostalgia for Lithuania. This Recording Gives An Eloquent Introduction to His Pianistic Virtuosity and Mystical, Scriabinesque Orchestral Vision.

The ‘romantic avant-gardism’ of Barcelona-born Leonardo Balada pairs complex techniques with avery direct emotional impact. These characteristics have often been employed in exploring the impactof historical events, none more so than the wars of the 20th century. Symphony No. 6 ‘Symphony ofSorrows’ (Dedicated to the Innocent Victims of the Spanish Civil War) embeds traditional melodic ideasin a coruscating single-movement exploration of the tragedies of war. The Steel Symphony reflects thesonorities – in an abstract, non-programmatic way – of Pittsburgh’s steel foundries, while theConcerto for Three Cellos, inspired by Germany’s recovery after two catastrophic world wars,combines complex techniques in a vivid work of almost surrealistic transformations.

•The first recording of Karg-Elert's complete works for flute.