The four works gathered here belong to what could be described as the secret garden of twentieth-century French music. They remind one that, next to the handful of composers of the post-Debussy-Faur� generation that have found a secure place in posterity, such as Maurice Ravel, Albert Roussel, Francis Poulenc, and Olivier Messiaen, there were many others whose names may be less familiar, but who have also made outstanding contributions to the music of their time. Written over fewer than fifty years, the four works also testify to the pioneering role played by twentieth-century French musicians in reviving and promoting the flute as a solo instrument. Ransom Wilson, flutist and conductor has performed in concert with major orchestras the world over. As a flutist, he has recently launched an ongoing series of solo recordings on the Nimbus label in Europe. Conductor Perry So most recently made his European operatic debut at the Royal Danish Opera in Mozart's Die Zauberflote. He is known for his wide-ranging programming, including numerous world premieres on four continents and works from the Renaissance and the Baoque.

Classical Music

Susan Bickley is one of the most accomplished mezzo-sopranos of her generation, with a wide repertory encompassing the Baroque, the great 19th and 20th century dramatic roles, as well as contemporary repertoire. In May 2011 she received the prestigious Singer Award at the Royal Philharmonic Society Awards, the highest recognition for live classical music in the UK. She has performed widely in opera, concert and recital roles, and recorded extensively. Claire Booth, soprano, a leading light of the contemporary classical music scene, is internationally renowned both for her commitment to an extraordinary breadth of repertoire, and for the vitality and musicianship that she brings to the operatic stage and concert platform. Andrew Matthews-Owen is among the most sought-after collaborative pianists of his generation, with a passionate commitment to contemporary music, regularly appearing in concert, and on commercial recordings with some of the finest classical artists of our time.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

The legacy of Sergei Prokofiev (1891 - 1953) is by now well explored and universally acknowledged. His music is performed all over the world. It is hard to imagine our musical life without his works, which have become indispensable 'standards' on our concert menu. In addition to his outstanding abilities as a composer, Prokofiev had an incredible melodic gift - a rarity for a twentieth-century composer (Rachmaninoff excepted). It is this lyrical and intimate aspect of his music that is explored in this recording, which has been put together in the manner of an installation of stained glass and attempts to produce a portrait of the composer, when listened to straight through. All the works collected in this album are short, ranging from under one minute to five minutes in length.

Classical Music

It is hoped that this selection of suites from Boyvin’s two important livres d’orgue will go some way to redressing the lack of awareness of the quality of Boyvin’s music. It is certainly different from the livres d’orgue of André Raison, François Couperin and Nicolas de Grigny, and it is wonderfully lively and attractive music, especially when heard on this historic organ. David Ponsford has spent much of his career studying this repertoire, resulting in his book ‘French Organ Music in the Reign of Louis XIV’ (Cambridge University Press 2011). The present series of recordings on the most important historical organs in France, including the music of Guillaume-Gabriel Nivers, Louis Couperin, Nicolas-Antoine Lebegue, Andre Raison, Jacques Boyvin, and others up to the composers of the Revolution such as Balbastre, Beauvarlet Charpentier and Lasceux, is therefore the fruit of many years of research by a seasoned performer whose aim is to combine technical brilliance with intellectual understanding, to bring the music alive with authority and meaning.

Hannah Mathilde von Rothschild was born in Frankfurt on the 5th of March 1832 and showed her musical talent early, being an excellent pianist and composer. Mathilde spent her childhood between Vienna and Frankfurt, and was greatly encouraged in her musical studies by her mother who brought her children up to be trilingual and to have a deep appreciation of art and music. Fr�d�ric Chopin was a frequent performer at the salon of James and Betty de Rothschild, in rue Laffitte in Paris, and taught various Rothschild ladies, including the 16 or 17 year-old Mathilde who would have taken lessons from him during one of her frequent visits to her cousins. Rothschild's international lifestyle results in a rich and varied collection of songs; the genre of song provided the ideal vehicle for Rothschild's thorough understanding of languages with sympathetic yet astute settings of French, German and English texts. In 1867 the esteemed musician Sir Charles Hall� told Louisa de Rothschild that 'no-one can have any idea of your cousin's rare and delightful talent; her compositions are charming, full of tender grace and sparkling originality.' She was asked by many leading singers to compose for them, including Christine Nillson, Selma Kurz and Adelina Patti. Her most famous song Si vous n'avez rien � me dire, was written for her friend Adelina Patti, who often sang this as an encore and made a recording of it in 1905.

Classical Music

This book is more than a collection of songs. It is a completely satisfying recital programme presented by two consummate artists. As given by them on the concert platform these songs are things to dream of. Engel Lund takes each one and in a few pithy sentences cracks it like a nut and gives you the kernel. Then she sings it, breathing into its words and notes an unforgettable vitality. Her accompanist, Ferdinand Rauter, is in such accord with Engel Lund that during the actual singing his part is almost unnoticed. His musical settings provide a completely natural environment.

There's the view that cabaret started off in the 19th century as "the salon of petty criminals and prostitutes". In place of gilded drawing rooms were smoky dives and rather than offering a venue for artistic transcendence, it offered shaky boards on upturned crates or beer barrels. These boards, in German "Brette" were further parodied in the diminutive as "Brettel" - or "little boards", offering a name to the songs performed on such makeshift stages. It soon became fashionable for urban bohemians to frequent such low-life dives bringing a certain gentrification in their wake. In Berlin, Paris, Vienna and Barcelona, the bawdy songs that would have been more typical of English sea-side music halls were replaced by social satire, often pulling heavy political punches. Yet if there's a single difficulty about Cabaret, it would be it's inability to transcend locality, time and place. Cabaret like operetta, is essentially local, and rarely even survives into the following week or year. It's pre-war material was the equivalent of the satirical television programs of today - enormously entertaining while being "to the minute" relevant, making references to issues or people everyone recognized. Less entertaining is returning to the same material a year or a decade later. Events, politicians and social mores have moved on. Yet some elements survived either because the music and text were timeless in themselves, or emerged decades - or indeed, a century later, as provocatively contemporary. Struggles for social justice such as "Me Too" or "Black Lives Matter" are embryonically echoed in songs such as "Chuck all of the Men out of the Reichstag" or "Das Lila Lied". Even today, we return to music to poke fun at society while making serious political points as a viable tool of passive resistance. True geniuses such as Hollaender, Spoliansky, Heymann and yes, Hughes & Limb could move the genre beyond supporting amusing texts with four-square accompaniments to true musical brilliance.

Hannah Mathilde von Rothschild was born in Frankfurt on the 5th of March 1832 and showed her musical talent early, being an excellent pianist and composer. Mathilde spent her childhood between Vienna and Frankfurt, and was greatly encouraged in her musical studies by her mother who brought her children up to be trilingual and to have a deep appreciation of art and music. Fr�d�ric Chopin was a frequent performer at the salon of James and Betty de Rothschild, in rue Laffitte in Paris, and taught various Rothschild ladies, including the 16 or 17 year-old Mathilde who would have taken lessons from him during one of her frequent visits to her cousins. Rothschild's international lifestyle results in a rich and varied collection of songs; the genre of song provided the ideal vehicle for Rothschild's thorough understanding of languages with sympathetic yet astute settings of French, German and English texts. In 1867 the esteemed musician Sir Charles Hall� told Louisa de Rothschild that 'no-one can have any idea of your cousin's rare and delightful talent; her compositions are charming, full of tender grace and sparkling originality.' She was asked by many leading singers to compose for them, including Christine Nillson, Selma Kurz and Adelina Patti. Her most famous song Si vous n'avez rien � me dire, was written for her friend Adelina Patti, who often sang this as an encore and made a recording of it in 1905.