American composer Judith Lang Zaimont' music is dynamic and palpably emotional. These four orchestral works employ nuanced palettes of instrumental colors and center on her lifelong engagement with memory.

Erich Wolfgang Korngold wrote a significant body of chamber music (the Piano Trio and String Sextet are on Naxos 8.574008). His three String Quartets reflect differing periods of composition. The First marries impetuousness with enticing harmonies and rapt eloquence. The Second dates from 1933 and has great clarity and rhythmic impetus, with a full complement of Korngold’s lyricism. The post-war Third is more relaxed, unexpectedly juxtaposing the archaic and modern with a joyful conclusion. The acclaimed Tippett Quartet can also be heard in works by Bax, Górecki, Panufnik, Penderecki, Rozsa and Michael Tippett.

REVIEWS:

What the album emphasizes convincingly are the links between these supposedly discrete incarnations, while giving equal weight to the quartets’ intriguing accommodation of high Romanticism and a more experimental tonality. Throughout, the Tippett ties these threads together with infinite diligence and love.

-- The Sunday Times (UK)

These three contrasting quartets cover more than twenty years of Korngold’s creative life, from his post-wunderkind years in Vienna to his time in the United States as primarily a composer of Hollywood film scores. String Quartet No. 1 in A major (1922-3) was written two years after his huge success with his operatic masterpiece ‘Die Tote Stadt’ and demonstrates his mastery of the quartet medium. The opening sounds terse and astringent Hindemith-like but within two minutes the textures become lusher and we are in Korngold’s familiar richly melodic world. There’s a similar mixture in the Quartet No. 2 in E flat Major (1933) with a lovely ‘Con moto sentimento’ slow movement and a deft waltz variation finale. The 1945 Quartet No. 3 in D is a delightful work with a witty and catchy folk tune slow movement. The Tippett Quartet are on top form throughout and the recording quality is first class.

-- Midlands Music Review

Brahms had long been immersed in the folk traditions and spirit of Hungary’s musical repertoire, not least through the famous violinist Ede Reményi, for whom he played as piano accompanist. Brahms employed melodies that he had heard, as well as those based on sheet music, and in this album his Hungarian Dances are presented alongside their source material and variants, as well as some elements that Brahms omitted from his settings. Contextualised in this way, the heroic strength and dynamism, as well as the melancholy of the Dances can be heard as never before.

Eugene Zádor was an established composer by the time he moved from Europe to the United States in 1939 where he worked as a film composer. Many of the works on this album exhibit Zádor’s finest traits, blending neo-Classicism and neo-Romanticism with expert orchestration and rhythmic verve, and a dedication to tonality liberally peppered with gentle dissonance. The Chamber Concerto was composed while he was still in Vienna, and the Suite for Horn, Strings and Percussion only received its premiere after Zádor’s death. The programme concludes with spectacular off-stage effects and a joyous affirmation of life in Celebration Music.

Frederic Rzewski was one of the most important American composer-pianists of his time.The themes explored in his late piano works are typical of his entire body of work in their uncompromising and universal nature. The intensely contrapuntal Ruins and virtuoso Wake Up are the last pieces in his vast piano cycle Dreams, while the War Songs weave together six war and anti-war songs from the last seven centuries. Winter Nights was written by Bobby Mitchell. Rzewski said of the three movements that they were intended to help with insomnia in a similar way to Bach's Goldberg Variations, though they are inevitably very different in the darkness of their moods.

REVIEWS:

In addition to Mitchell’s outstanding technical abilities, what struck me about this recording is the almost unbelievable clarity and realism of the recorded sound—Mitchell comes across as if he’s playing “live”, right in your living room.

This is clearly an interesting and thoughtful tribute to a composer who Mitchell was close to and deeply admired. Well recommended for Rzewski fans, particularly the War Songs and the two excerpts from Dreams.

-- The Art Music Lounge

This recording presents brand new concertos from two vibrant and contrasting American composers. Adolphus Hailstork’s First Piano Concerto draws on his African American heritage to create a work brimming with energy and high spirits. The Violin Concerto “Eleven Eleven” by Danny Elfman – renowned for his many film scores including Batman – has its roots in the composer’s rock, film and television background, but also illustrates his love for the music of Shostakovich and Prokofiev.

REVIEW:

Two major works from contemporary American composers sit side by side here in this latest American Classics production from Naxos. Well-known for his prolific film score output Danny Elfman’s Violin Concerto “Eleven Eleven” has echoes of his early Batman. There is an interesting note about the subtitle in the accompanying words – apparently the number 11 has special meaning for the composer. Alongside this we have Adolphus Hailstork’s Piano Concerto No 1. This has influences from his Afro-American heritage. Both are in fine new live recordings here.

-- Lark Reviews

Sergey Rachmaninoff's symphonic career had a rocky start with the premiere of his First Symphony, now recognized as one of the Russian symphonic works of the late 19th century. Both the powerful First Symphony and the gloriously melodic Second, with its lush harmonic Adagio second movement, are haunted by the Dies irae chant melody. Rachmaninoff considered his Third Symphony to be one of his finest works, alongside the exquisitely and virtuosic Symphonic Dances. The enduring attraction of these symphonies is enhanced by the 'impressive, highly desirable interpretations' (Gramophone) in this acclaimed edition conducted by Leonard Slatkin.

Past praise for previously released volumes included in this set:

Rachmaninoff: Symphony No. 3, Symphonic Dances

The more garish aspects of the Symphonic Dances, with its Dies irae quotation morphing into a Russian Alleluia, and the percussion parts generally, are kept under control, while the symphony’s glorious melodies, the last stand of the Romantic era in 1936, are allowed to flower luxuriantly. A crack Russian or British orchestra might be smoother in places, but there is a confident musicality here that is immensely appealing, and it has everything to do with a group of young players who realize that they are under the gun and have what it takes to succeed, under seasoned leadership. Highly recommended.

-- AllMusic.com (James Manheim)

Rachmaninoff: The Isle of the Dead & Symphony No. 1

This recording of the First Symphony is arguably the finest since Ashkenazy’s with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra for Decca. Slatkin grinds out the opening bars with real menace, and he conceals the first movement’s episodic construction with flowing tempos and smartly managed transitions. The climax of the development section uses the glockenspiel part that seems to come and go in various recordings, but not the rest of the percussion that we find, say, with Litton on Virgin. Through it all the Detroit Symphony plays splendidly.

The crepuscular scherzo has an attractive lilt, while the Larghetto is just that: a small Largo, not one of Rachmaninov’s more hot and heavy statements in the mode of Symphony No. 2. Kudos to Slatkin for catching the movement’s gentle melancholy so well. As for the finale, it begins with plenty of the requisite panache, and culminates with a dark, powerful, and threatening coda that, if not quite as screamingly intense as Ashkenazy’s (the tempo is a bit quicker), comes as close as makes no difference. The trombones really put on a show here.

As for The Isle of the Dead, Slatkin’s performance doesn’t languish as some others do, and it’s all to the good. You really feel the five-in-a-bar rhythm in this performance, the lapping of the waves against the shore. The climaxes have tremendous impact, and the final appearance of the Dies irae sends a shiver down the spine. The work is all the more gripping for having such a strong rhythmic profile, and like the symphony it’s beautifully played (and recorded). Slatkin always has performed Rachmaninov as well as just about anyone alive today, and this cycle, quietly and with little fanfare as it has gradually appeared, sustains his reputation.

-- ClassicsToday.com (David Hurwitz)

Celebrating his 80th birthday year in 2008, American composer James Cohn studied with Roy Harris, Wayne Barlow and Bernard Wagenaar, graduating from the Julliard School in 1950.

Son of the distinguished Swiss composer, pianist, and teacher Ernst Levy, Frank Ezra Levy was born in Paris on 15th October, 1930, and came to New York in 1939. He began cello lessons at the age of ten, and at twelve he began studies in theory and composition with Hugo Kauder, which continued for nine years. After graduating from the High School of Music and Art, Levy attended the Juilliard School of Music and the University of Chicago. His major cello teachers were Leonard Rose and Janos Starker. A former member of the St Louis Symphony and the Feldman Chamber Ensemble, Frank Ezra Levy is still a professional cellist, and continues to compose. Large works include a four-act comic opera, a cantata, four symphonies, several other orchestral pieces, and eight concertos. All the rest of his 88 published works are chamber music, an extraordinary variety of pieces for 1-15 instruments, often in highly unusual combinations. Notable premi�res of Frank Levy's music include his Third Symphony at Carnegie Hall (1989), the Holocaust Triptych at Manhattan School of Music (1993), his First Cello Concerto at Lincoln Center (2002) and Apostrophe No. 3 for 15 solo strings, at Music Festival of the Hamptons (2004). Currently available among his recorded works are the Fourth Symphony and First Cello Concerto. LP recordings include the Violin Duo, Sonata for Clarinet and Piano, Suite for Horn and Piano, Adagio and Rondo for Two Clarinets and Bass Clarinet, and the Brass Quintet.

Raízes (Portuguese for ‘roots’) features new works commissioned by the Matosinhos String Quartet, in which composers were invited to write works inspired by melodies, dances and stories from Portuguese traditional folklore. Returning to their heritage in North Portugal, Eurico Carrapatoso and Fernando C. Lapa both draw inspiration from Mirandese landscapes, dances and melodies. Telmo Marques’s Ilhas Afortunadas alludes to the mythologies surrounding the islands of the Azores and Madeira, and Sérgio Azevedo pays homage to Fernando Lopes-Graça and Béla Bartók’s pioneering work recording folk music in the field with his Popularuskia I

Anton Rubinstein was one of the greatest pianists of his age – a virtuoso the equal of Liszt and a popular composer whose career took him all over the world. Despite his invaluable contributions to Russian music, his legacy proved controversial with later generations. Today we can appreciate Rubinstein’s very real achievement as a gifted and original composer whose works are notable for their melodic memorability and extraordinary variety of textures. These Preludes and Études bear powerful witness to this composer’s technical ability and command of tone colour, forming a comprehensive survey of Rubinstein’s piano technique and creative prowess.

REVIEWS:

A comprehensive programme of beautiful well-crafted 19th Century piano music which should be better known. Lovely performances by Martin Cousins are presented here of the complete Six Preludes, Op 24 and Six Etudes, Op 81.

-- Lark Reviews

Anton Rubinstein was one of the greatest pianists of his age – a virtuoso the equal of Liszt and a popular composer whose career took him all over the world. Despite his invaluable contributions to Russian music, his legacy proved controversial with later generations. Today we can appreciate Rubinstein’s very real achievement as a gifted and original composer whose works are notable for their melodic memorability and extraordinary variety of textures. These Preludes and Études bear powerful witness to this composer’s technical ability and command of tone colour, forming a comprehensive survey of Rubinstein’s piano technique and creative prowess.

-- Records International

As an influential figure in Viennese circles that included Mozart and Haydn, Paul Wranitzky was often called upon to take on commissions from the Imperial Court and the Empress Marie Therese in particular. Das listige Bauernmädchen, a ballet from her collection, reflects its rustic setting and story of romantic intrigues with folk-dance energy and delightful pantomime. The dramatic ballet divertissement Vorstellungen was part of Emperor Franz II’s birthday celebrations in 1803, as was an extensive Quodlibet from which we have selected the colourful Final Contradance.

The discovery in 2015 of a 15th-century parchment chansonnier still in its original binding was made still more startling because it contained twelve previously unknown, anonymous chansons. Most are rondeaus, and they range from the uncomplicated to the refined and elaborate; many bear musical indications that they are the work of the greatest composers of the period. In this recording they have been contextualised with other known songs but in the variant versions found in Leuven. As on their recording of the Chansonnier Cordiforme (on 8.573325), Ensemble Leones employs a range of performance possibilities, from a cappella ensemble to a mixture of instruments and voices.

For Brahms, folk songs were sources of musical inspiration, not subjects for academic study. The songs from Books 6 and 7 of the Deutsche Volkslieder exemplify how Brahms’ distinctive and expressive accompaniments brought unique qualities to these songs, how he intensified certain verses to draw out their power, or allowed the piano its own revealing melodic phrases. In Book 7 the songs are divided between a lead singer and a chorus, adding fresh musical possibilities. In the Volkskinderlieder (‘Children’s Folk Songs’) Brahms’ economy and deftness turn lullabies into works of art.

Here are two very personal, immediately spontaneous and highly dramatic interpretations of the two concertos, in which so many things sound excitingly new.

For 19th-century audiences Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 was the most loved of all his piano concertos, a work in which the balancing of high drama, tenderness, lyricism and humour is most pronounced and in which a coda resolves inner tensions with brilliance and triumphant grandeur. Piano Concerto No. 4 is the most introspective and poetic of the concertos. The simplicity of its opening piano statement gives way to an unprecedented dialogue in the central movement between a heartfelt piano and an austere unison string orchestra, before the infectious energy of the dramatic finale.

REVIEW:

Beethoven’s 3rd Piano Concerto is a departure into a new era. And that’s what Boris Giltburg makes us feel in his interpretation with the Liverpool Orchestra under Vasily Petrenko. His first movement is very agitated and rhetorical, and the Largo is not a beautiful romance, but rather a reflection and lingering, a recharging of the batteries, so to speak, whose energy is used up in the last movement. On the whole, the contrasts are highly dramatic. Orchestra and pianist sometimes seem to want to go in directly opposite directions.

Excitement and contrasts between orchestra and piano also characterize the first movement of the Fourth Concerto in which Giltburg makes the cadenza particularly exciting and expressive. The second movement ends enormously sombre and hopeless, the Passagio experience is fearfully depicted. The last movement is jubilant and fluttering, extremely virtuosic and ravishing in its exalted manner.

So we have here two very personal, immediately spontaneous and highly dramatic interpretations of the two concertos, in which so many things sound excitingly new. And that makes us recommend these pianistically and orchestrally magnificent recordings without hesitation.

-- Pizzicato