Croatian-born Lovro Peretić has selected a panoramic program that reaches back to the 18th century and forward to modern times. This recital includes Peretic’s own arrangements of a Brahms Intermezzo and two barely known works by Debussy, heard here in their world premiere recordings, alongside Karel Craeyvanger’s Weber homage, a sensually evocative piece by Barrios Mangoré, and Henze’s richly characterized Second Sonata on Shakespearean Characters.

Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges possessed a panoply of talent, and his violin concertos were showpieces designed for himself to perform. Published in pairs, the pieces recorded here show his originality of expression, his command of structure and a bravura exploitation of the violin’s higher register that raise them far beyond the conventional concertos of his time. Volumes 1 and 2 of the concertos can be heard on 8.555040 and 8.557322.

Learn more about the composer and this album on the Naxos Spotlight podcast!

New Jersey-born George Antheil travelled to Europe in 1922 determined to become ‘noted and notorious’. The first three violin sonatas come from this period, with the eclectic Violin Sonata No. 1 displaying the fiercely barbaric influence of Stravinsky, the more jazzy No. 2 developing experiments in ‘musical cubism’ and the Violin Sonata No. 3 achieving a synthesis of Stravinskyian rhythms and Antheil’s more song-like tendencies. The later No. 4 is built on Classical and Baroque models.

REVIEW:

There’s a distinctly Kurt Weill vibe to the first sonata. Even here, in the midst of this Weill-like music, Antheil throws in one of his patented moto perpetuo passages set to a stiff, mechanical rhythm, his trademark in the ‘20s. Even in the slow movement, Antheil indulges in stiff rhythms, microtonal string glissandi for the violinist, and utterly strange musical progressions. Only in the third movement, marked “Funèbre, lento espressive,” does one encounter a relatively normal-sounding theme – but not for long. After the first minute, it gets the Antheil treatment.

The second and third sonatas are each only one movement. The second sonata, though not truly jazz-influenced, is clearly syncopated in a sort of ragtime manner but with skewed, asymmetric rhythm patterns and constantly shifting harmonies. Interestingly, the pianist also plays drums on this one (in the last passage), and there is a brief passage in tango rhythm. I really loved this piece because it tied so many different influences together!

Although written just one year later, the third sonata already shows a development in Antheil’s style. The music is a bit more linear and cohesive and less dependent on steadily-repeated hard rhythmic riffs. Indeed, this is clearly a kinder, gentler George Antheil.

The last sonata dates from 1947–48, by which time Antheil had mellowed somewhat, but he still wrote occasional pieces related to his early works, and this particular violin sonata is one of them. Yet there is clearly a difference. Instead of writing odd themes which are juxtaposed against one another, Antheil figured out a way to remain himself yet still write music that developed in a semi-traditional manner. In a way, then, this sonata is, if not more interesting than the first two, clearly more cohesive. The early sonatas are clearly fun to listen to despite their being a bit disjointed, but this sonata has both innovative ideas and a clear form. Oddly, the last movement, a “Toccata-Rondo,” bears a striking resemblance to Prokofiev, except that at times Antheil’s rhythms appear to be running backwards rather than forwards.

Happily, Yang and Rimmer give everything they have to this project, which is considerable. AS in the case of Yang’s Ysaÿe sonatas, I have no hesitation in recommending this splendid CD.

-- The Art Music Lounge (Lynn René Bayley)

Ives’ Sets for Chamber Orchestra are largely based on his songs, and display a panoply of style and technique. Set 9 includes The Unanswered Question in its original form, and this recording contains world premiere recordings of new realisations and editions, as well as being the first recording of the complete edition of the Sets. The three Orchestral Sets conducted by James Sinclair can be heard on 8.559370.

REVIEW:

The Sets for Chamber Orchestra by Charles Ives (1874–1954) are, in a sense, songs without words, based on songs whose texts are printed in the booklet. Although some sets do not have descriptive titles as others do (Three Poets and human Nature, From the Side Hill, Water Colors) most parts of the sets do have a name that describes their character. Set 9 includes The Unanswered Question in its original form.

For this recording, James Sinclair, Kenneth Singleton, and David Porter have thoroughly revised the scores and weeded out errors.

The interpretations are refined, clearly structured, and expressive. Unlike other conductors, Sinclair does not play to the fullest the aggressiveness of the compositions, but strives for a fine portrayal of the grotesque, the ironic, and the nostalgic.

-- Pizzicato (Norbert Tischer)

Is there any music more instantly recognisable and beautifully scored than Tchaikovsky’s wildly popular ballet Swan Lake? These and other works have become enduring classics, yet they were not uncontroversial in Tchaikovsky’s day, and there are those that still wonder if his style is fundamentally European or ardently Russian. Find out more about Tchaikovsky’s childhood obsession with music, his turbulent relationships with friends and colleagues, and how he overcame the deepest of personal crises to transcend all with a creative ambition that has left us with some of the greatest music ever written. The narrative is illustrated with musical excerpts from Piano Concerto No. 1, Symphonies Nos. 4 and 6, the 1812 Overture,The Nutcracker, Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty, among others.

Imre Széchényi was a distinguished diplomat who rose to become the Austro-Hungarian ambassador to Berlin, retaining the friendship and admiration of a gallery of leading figures of the age: Liszt, Johann Strauss ii, Suppé, Waldteufel, Bismarck, and many others. He was also a pianist and composer, and his diplomatic career ran parallel to his musical life. Széchényi’s métier was the dance, and his series of polkas, mazurkas and serenades – infectiously engaging and ardently lyrical – were popular pieces in their day but are now little known. orchestrations of many of these dances were made by the composer (Naxos 8.573807) but five that were never scored for orchestra are included here.

Orfa was Adolphe Adam’s penultimate ballet, with an intriguing scenario based on Nordic mythology. It shares analogies with Hesiod’s Theogony and Wagner’s Ring cycle in depicting the struggle between the older gods (Loki) and younger gods (Odin). Full of archetypal Romantic elements, Orfa was mounted with the lavish stage spectacle for which the Paris Opéra was famous, and featured Fanny Cerrito in the title role. Adam’s writing shows increasingly vivid orchestral imagination, drama and tonal colour, with roles for several instrumental soloists. This world premiere recording uses a new edition copied from Adam’s original manuscript score held at the Bibliothèque nationale de France.

José Antônio de Almeida Prado was one of the most admired Brazilian composers of his time. The two stylistically diverse works featured on this album exemplify different creative periods in the composer’s life. The prize-winning Pequenos funerais cantantes, which was Almeida Prado’s breakthrough as a composer, is a lament full of unique soundworlds forged from different combinations of choral and orchestral writing. The superbly orchestrated Sinfonia dos Orixás takes as its subject the Orishas (deities in the Yoruba religion) – and is a personal tribute to the rich Afro-Brazilian religious traditions, a sumptuous melodic and rhythmic feast celebrating the forces of nature.

REVIEW:

In his music, color and emotion were inextricably interwoven with the more technical aspects of his scores. His music can be described in words, but these words fail to convey its impact, which is not really definable. This music is never predictable. It always surprises the listener. It is a shame that he’s almost virtually ignored outside Brazil.

The Symphony of the Orishas, composed in 1984-85, is a masterpiece of extraordinary invention and complexity. Words do it little justice, you really need to hear and experience it for yourself. Nothing I say is going to convey the full power, richness and emotional impact of this score. Suffice it to say that I’ve heard absolutely nothing like it in a half-century of reviewing music. All I will say is that it is not at all a conventional symphony using theme and development, but rather a veritable cornucopia of sound, color and motion.

Neil Thomson is an excellent conductor who fully enters the spirit of these scores; he manages to sound Brazilian even though he isn’t. This is one of those very rare albums whose totality is greater than the sum of its parts. This is certainly one of the most interesting and culturally important releases ever put on the market.

-- The Art Music Lounge (Lynn René Bayley)

György Ligeti’s Études redefined the piano’s tonal possibilities and are considered one of his major creative achievements, as well as being one of the most significant sets of piano studies of the 20th century. They inevitably draw on influences from the past such as Chopin and Debussy, but avoid any sense of eclecticism. Ligeti’s often spectacularly virtuoso use of complex rhythms and geometric patterns proceeds from simple core ideas to create music that is ‘neither “avant-garde” nor “traditional”, neither tonal nor atonal’, and always backed by that glint of humour in the composer’s eye.

REVIEW:

Vera Tsu is another outstanding soloist. Her tone is rich, bringing out to the full the ripe romanticism of the Goldmark Concerto. Her attack is fearless in the many bravura passages, so that the dance rhythms of the dance-finale have a rare sparkle, and her hushed playing in the central slow movement at a very broad speed movingly demonstrates her inner concentration, helped by the equally beautiful, finely varied playing of the Razumovsky Sinfonia of Bratislava. Rich, full, open sound.

-- The Penguin Guide

Although Smith Brindle composed a variety of works including an opera, he is best known for his guitar music. The poetic and lyrical Etruscan Preludes express the mystery of an ancient and lost civilisation, while the enigmatic El Polifemo de oro expresses poet and playwright Federico García Lorca’s attribution of occult powers to the guitar. From the beautifully expressive Nocturne to the extreme effects of Percussion Piece (from Guitarcosmos, Vol. 3), the sheer virtuosity of invention in Smith Brindle’s guitar music led Julian Bream to commend his diversity of style and clarity of intention.

As one of the most celebrated composers of the late 18th century, Joseph Haydn can lay claim to being ‘father of the piano trio’ alongside that of other genres established in his lifetime such as the symphony and the string quartet. The delightful Divertimento in C major is a youthful work, but the later piano trios recorded here take on a heightened sophistication. Strings and keyboard are given a new independence of character in exquisitely crafted works such as the C minor Trio, with its ‘numerous and sometimes spectacular modulations’, and oscillating en_x005F_x0002_harmonic key changes that foreshadow Schubert can be heard in the Trio in D major.

Much of Carl Czerny’s concert music for piano was considered ‘wild and almost unplayable’ in his day, but these world premiere recordings reveal inspired melodic writing, great skill in orchestration and colourful virtuoso challenges in a programme that includes his final Concertino, Op. 650. This is the final release in the Naxos edition of works for piano and orchestra by Czerny. Previous releases can be heard on 8.573998, 8.573688, 8.573417 and 8.573254.

John Corigliano’s music has been commissioned, performed, and recorded by some of the most prominent orchestras, soloists, and chamber musicians in the world. He is the recipient of a Pulitzer Prize, five GRAMMY Awards, the Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition, and an Oscar. The Piano Concerto ranges in expression between lyricism and atonality and is extremely virtuosic and theatrical, while the competition piece Fantasia on an Ostinato investigates the performer’s imagination and musicality through minimalist techniques. The devilish discipline of Étude Fantasy contrasts with the improvisatory origins of Winging It, while Prelude for Paul echoes the soul of Rachmaninoff.

Listen to the Naxos Classical Spotlight Podcast about this recording!

REVIEW:

John Corigliano’s formally very free but tonally not too modern Piano Concerto from 1968 opens this program. Ravel and Bartok could both have been the inspiration for this rhythmically interesting and highly imaginative piece. Fisher and the Albany Symphony, led by David Allan Miller, deliver a ravishing interpretation of it.

Fantasia on an Ostinato combines minimalism with improvisation and is Fisher’s favorite piece.

The short, lyrical Prelude for Paul leads to the five-part Etude-Fantasy, some virtuosic and some very quiet, which begins with an etude for the left hand. The virtuosic parts sound nervous and agitated at times.

‘Winging it’ is the result of a notation of three virtuoso improvisations played brilliantly and very spontaneously by Edward Fisher.

On the whole, then, this is a very interesting CD that presents one aspect of John Corigliano’s compositions in detail and at a high level.

-- Pizzicato

Pavel Chesnokov studied with Taneyev, Ippolitov-Ivanov and Conus in Moscow and was an admired choral director in the city. He wrote more than 500 choral works, the majority of them sacred. His contribution to music for the Divine Liturgy was immense and he wrote two settings of the All-Night Vigil, the second of which is heard here, rich in chant melodies, and full of grandeur and Romantic lyricism. His smaller-scale works show a refined and perceptive use of texture and sonority, often capturing the essence of chant without direct quotation.